Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

The purpose of this study is to validate the structural relationship among discussion activities, interactions with faculty, self-directed learning, and learning outcomes of college students. Data were collected through the National Assessment of Student Engagement in Learning (NASEL). NASEL was developed as part of the implementation of the ‘university teaching-learning quality improvement strategy study’ as a part of the 5-year (2013-2017) plan of the Korean Educational Development Institute. This study uses data from the author’s home institution from a national 2013 survey on the teaching-learning process of Korean college students, in which 28,095 students in 47 four-year colleges participated. The sample consists of 336 survey respondents. Statistical analysis demonstrated that interactions with faculty and self-directed learning capability directly affect learning outcomes. However, discussion activities do not have a significant impact on the learning outcome unless self-directed learning capability is used as the parameter. Similarly, interactions with faculty have an indirect impact on learning outcome using self-directed learning capability as the parameter.