Co-operative learning versus self-directed learning in engineering: Student preferences and implications

Studies have shown that co-operative learning may and may not enhance academic performance. These mixed results lead to the following research question: "What do African undergraduate engineering students prefer, cooperative learning or self-directed learning, and how do these learning styles influence their academic performance"? The purpose of this paper is to contrast the advantages of cooperative and self-directed learning within an electrical engineering context, providing student perceptions and implications of these two learning styles. The final grade marks obtained by these students are correlated to each of the pedagogical approaches which suggest that co-operative learning does result in greater academic success for African undergraduate engineering students when compared to self-directed learning. Reasons for this positive correlation among African undergraduate engineering students are presented in this paper.