Supporting Student Learning and Independence in Higher Education

This book examines how students adapt to independent learning at university through their own perspectives. It highlights key areas—learning strategies, support networks, disciplinary belonging, and identity—while offering practical, evidence-based guidance for supporting student success in higher education.

Exploring how students adapt to independent learning at university, this book investigates the experience of the transition to university through the eyes of the students. It challenges traditional understandings of self-regulated learning to explore how students can be best supported to ensure they succeed in their studies. The book approaches the development of self-regulated learning skills from the students’ perspective across four main themes for students' development:• The refinement of ‘personal learning strategies’ to adjust to learning in a higher education environment• Managing ‘personal learning networks’ of people and structures who support and influence their learning• Understanding how to embed themselves within their chosen discipline• Refining their ‘identity’ to find out how they fit into a wider academic world. Each chapter is supported by participants’ stories that exemplify the experiences being discussed to ensure that the students’ perspective remains at the heart of the book. Suggesting evidence-based practical ways to support students in the transition to higher education and as they develop as independent learners transitioning onto, and then through, their degrees, this is an essential resource for academics, learning support professionals and curriculum designers.