Self-directed learning competence assessment within different healthcare professionals and amongst students in Italy.

In the last few years the significance of life-long learning skills has been greatly realised with regard to adult learning, which is based on self-motivation, engagement in learning and making full use of a person's resources. In this context, it is paramount that healthcare professionals take responsibility for their profession by being innovative, creative and flexible to change in order to facilitate the adaptation process and encourage responsiveness to change. The main principles can be summarized as lifelong learning, which are strictly linked to self-directed learning.

Development of a self-rating scale of self-directed learning.

In order to realise their full potential as learners, it is essential that students have good self-directed learning skills. It is also important that students develop their own roles in learning by continuously monitoring their own learning progress, identifying areas of deficit and making a conscious effort towards self-improvement. In this paper, Swapna Naskar Williamson reports on the development and testing of a self-rating scale of self-directed learning in higher education, and considers how it might be used in practice in order to enhance the requisite skills for becoming independent and lifelong learners.