Page 13 - GHES-1-2

Global Health Econ Sustain Self-directed learning supporting mental health

that is associated with positive mental health outcomes. The final article that provides a positive assessment of
With respect to the role of educators, these authors all three variables focuses on factors affecting students’
recommended that teachers “need a deeper understanding happiness with online learning (Ong et al., 2022). From
of the impact of motivation, self-monitoring, and self- the perspective of these authors, who are interested in
management to improve the learning outcomes in MOOCs identifying what contributes to students’ happiness,
and to facilitate SDL as a critical factor for MOOC learners’ the need for autonomy “to feel free and self-directed”
success.” The article does not discuss the role of reducing is imperative. Consequently, any form of learning that
parental expectations concerning standardized learning. improves the ability of students to self-direct their learning
The third article, finding a positive connection among is considered to increase their happiness. Thus, the self-
self-directed learning, online learning, and mental directed online learning required due to the COVID-19
health, focuses on guiding teacher strategies (Zhao pandemic had the potential to boost students’ happiness
et al., 2020). Once again, this is an article from China in if they felt free to self-direct their learning. Furthermore,
which self-directed learning is characterized as involving these authors observed that when students truly felt that
“self-exploration, self-discovery, and self-acquisition of they could self-direct their learning, they also expressed a
knowledge.” In this context, the teacher’s role is perceived stronger sense of connection with fellow online learners.
as strengthening this form of autonomous learning by The findings of the article are in support of the previous
providing homework materials to students. The authors research that has highlighted self-directed learning as a
advocate for the use of “Strict Management of Online positive experience, particularly when this learning is self-
Teaching” as one of their section headings, highlighting initiated. The article does not discuss the role of parents.
two important goals for teachers: behavior management A study investigating self-directed learning and
and emotional management of the students. Concurrently, attitudes toward online learning specifically examined
the parents are encouraged to maintain regular both self-directed learning and online learning in relation
communication with teachers to form “a good home- to the mental health of public school students (Shao et al.,
school co-education model.” According to the authors’ 2022). Nevertheless, unlike the articles that held positive
assessment, it is through this strict management approach assessments for all three variables, the study ultimately
that positive mental health can be expected. As a result, evaluated self-directed learning, online learning, and
while this article expresses positive regarding each of the mental health as negative for public school students during
variables, it does not actually refer to self-directed learning the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this assessment was
– it can more accurately be considered as self-controlled the result of a thorough examination of both the positive
learning. In this regard, this article does not consider and negative factors involved. The authors clearly believed
the necessity of self-initiation since its primary focus lies that for students who self-initiated their learning, self-
beyond the realm of self-directed learning per se. directed online learning was positive and correlated with
positive mental health. The problem identified by the
The fourth article investigates the mental health of
high school students (Garcia et al., 2022), presenting a authors is that the majority of students do not belong
positive perspective on all three variables. In contrast to to this category. Consequently, for most students, their
the previous articles – all positive with respect to their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic were
assessment of self-directed learning, online learning, and entirely negative. According to these authors, their results
mental health – that uniformly assessed each variable, this indicate that a student’s ability in self-directed learning in
paper places its primary focus on students’ mental health. this regard can serve as a predictor of their mental state,
While the concept of students self-directing their learning indirectly influencing the effectiveness of online learning.
online is mentioned, it is only a tangential interest. The The study did not address the impact of reducing parental
central message of the article revolves around how, despite expectations regarding standardized learning on fostering
initially suffering from anxiety related to COVID-19, self-initiation in their children.
students managed to adapt to the pandemic and their Another article, which delves into the implementation
self-directed online learning, resulting in positive mental and challenges of online education (Zhu et al., 2022),
health outcomes. There is no actual discussion concerning presents another balanced approach to the consideration
the students’ learning, making it challenging to ascertain of online learning, although with negative assessments
why these authors held a positive assessment of self- for all three variables concerning most students. What
directed online learning, except that this learning did not is particularly interesting about this study is its scope,
appear to adversely affect the mental health of the students. involving a sample of 28,334 children in China. In contrast
This article does not delve into the role of parents. to other studies conducted in China, the article does not

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2023) 7 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1219