Along with the strong support for lifelong learning comes the need for learners to take charge of their own learning process. Delegating one’s learning to an institutional setting is limited, and even within this setting one must actively engage in the learning process to increase the value of learning. It seems obvious that learning what is handed to you is a lower level of learning than learning how something fits your world and how you can use it in myriad situations in the future. Adapting is more involved than adopting, however in many cases the institutions of education have successfully taught people that knowledge is a product that is handed over from those that know to those that don’t. I am still somewhat amazed when I encounter people in classes that don’t want to or are reluctant to explore something of their own choosing when given the chance. I assume this is primarily the function of a successful didactic system that has stifled individual initiative over the years. And helping students break out of this way of doing things to take charge is often difficult, full of misgivings, mistrust, and uncertainty. It is also counter to the way they have been taught to value education. Many times I have heard students say something to the effect that they have come here or paid good money to learn from the professor and it is a form of ‘bait and switch’ to ask students to direct their own learning. This might be true enough for lower forms of learning, but is hardly valid for higher forms of learning, such as conceptual or critical reasoning that is necessary for grappling with the hard problems we need to resolve in society now and in the future. Many students must first learn the value of directing their own learning as the means to developing the capabilities to be more adept and more prepared to deal with the complex, messy problems of the present and future.
So, one of the primary tasks of facilitating learning as an instructor is to inspire students to take ownership of their own learning. It cannot be assumed that students will do this given the choice.