Preparing the Soil for Autonomous Learners proposes cultural and physical changes to the prevailing university environment. It is a response to current rationalised education system that focuses on maximising efficiency to produce standardised workers, rather than facilitating each and every students’ intellectual development to empower them to be autonomous lifelong learners with the abilities and dispositions to shape a future all of us want to be part of.
It is structured in three parts. Firstly, the prevailing paradigm is critiqued in terms of its effectiveness for preparing students as ethical citizens and future decision makers. Secondly, pedagogical improvements that facilitate learners’ intellectual development are discussed. Lastly, architectural patterns informed by environmental psychology that support these pedagogical improvements and accommodate the cognitive processes of authentic learning are outlined.
