Tales of Online Learner Autonomy: Highlights and Challenges in the Disruptive Age

Abstract

When the new normal learning mode capitalized on technologically mediated communication, it created a high learner-content interaction while honing critical thinking and collaborative skills to achieve optimal learning. The disruption brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic instilled a sense of independence and flexibility in learning. The aim of this autoethnography is to consider the accounts of the author’s independent learning throughout the pandemic in an online course. The author’s comments, insights, and observations, which formed dense descriptions of the lived realities and were interpreted and analyzed through an autoethnographic lens, constituted a significant portion of the data. The findings show that students who engage in online learner autonomy assume complete accountability and exercise control over the learning process, thereby strengthening their capacity for independent and cooperative learning. Students face difficulties when they are overly flexible and independent, which leads to uncritical assessment of the material covered. The problem can be solved by applying critical thinking.