Well, that didn´t work: A troubled attempt to quantitatively measure engineering students´ lifelong learning development over two years of college

Despite the recognized importance of self-directed and lifelong learning for today´s graduates, the processes by which learners become self-directed, and the roles that pedagogy and learning climate play in these processes, remain unclear. To better understand students´ growth as lifelong learners, we conducted a two-year pilot study of engineering students at two institutions. The study approach was based on established motivation theory, as well as social-cognitive frameworks for self-regulated learning. Quantitative results revealed that students at both institutions reported autonomous motivations and an emphasis on learning over grades - encouraging indicators of lifelong learning. Students showed positive beliefs about learning, with both groups endorsing constructive over reproducible knowledge, dynamic over fixed learner ability, social over individual learning, and relatively high comfort with ambiguity. Unfortunately, the quantitative portion of the study did not reveal many significant temporal changes in students´ self-directed learning development. In this paper, we explore possible reasons for the lack of significant quantitative temporal shifts, from both theoretical and methodological perspectives. We examine questions of survey construct relevance, time scales for change, situational versus contextual level data, and group size. Insights gained from this pilot-scale study may serve to inform future investigations of lifelong learning.