Promoting Cultural Awareness and Autonomous Learning in Higher Education: A Case Study

The main aim of this paper is to promote autonomous learning and cultural awareness among professors and students in higher education. The issue of whether students should be actively involved in the learning process and regarded as collaborators in course materials, topics and plans is an ongoing issue. In regard to the assumption that the professors are in charge of the educational process and in regard to the cultural awareness issue that accordingly, the student should not be asked to participate in course content or suggest topics, the case study, in fact, explores ways how autonomous learning can be introduced and the outcomes of the process. Participants in the case study are 30 students of IBU, of various fields (ELT, PCG and VA) who were enrolled in the course Program development in the previous semester (Fall 2024). The implementation of autonomous learning was simultaneously conducted through the different tasks and projects that the students were asked to complete along the course. The first phase consisted of determining the goals and defining students’ needs. The second phase consisted of student support and empathy. Students learned to trust the process and to work on their own and in groups and to provide feedback. They designed their own plans, presented and taught their peers and reflected on the process afterwards. The last phase consisted of course-material experts. In this phase, students were asked to modify course materials, more specifically, to develop an additional chapter for the primary source (the course book). Students were additionally advised to complete personal portfolios. The portfolios provide students’ feedback and reflections on the process, alongside their progress in the course. The procedure along with the outcomes of the process will be presented further in the paper.