Globally, particularly in recent years, changes in higher education have promoted the development and research of teaching-learning approaches to organize a high-quality study process in higher education. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergency teaching-learning had an impact on student learning outcomes. In addition, studies shows that self-directed learning is one of the important factors that have a positive effect on student attitudes and learning effectiveness in distance and remote learning (Kuo et al., 2022; Badiozaman et al., 2023). New demands on higher education from the society to prepare students for future, means to promote students' readiness for working life and lifelong learning where they have to become a self-directed learners (Blaschke, 2021).As it is stated by Bosh et al. (2019): “Self-directed learning (SDL) is an approach to education where learners take responsibility for their own learning” (p. 1). The student became an active participant in his own learning, taking necessary actions to achieve his/her learning goals. This provide an opportunity for students to develop a sense of ownership of the learning. Recent research confirm that self-directed learning is a productive way for students in higher education to successfully achieve their learning goals (Van Woezik et al., 2019; Du Toit-Brits, 2019), even very small interventions and changes in the study process organization in HE can promote the development of students SDL skills and readiness for SDL (Elderson-Van Duin et al., 2023, Golightly, 2018). Although SDL has a long history, new challenges brought by COVID-19 and after the pandemic period by the strong influence of technologies, especially AI, raise new questions about SDL in higher education. 

The aim of the present research is to explore the perspective of university teachers and students on  self-directed learning experiences in the context of the post-pandemic era and the challenging conditions created by artificial intelligence.

We use the case of University of Latvia (UL) to address the following research questions:

RQ1. How does the assessment of students' self-directed learning skills differ from the perspective of teachers and students?

RQ2. How do students and teachers assess the need for self-directed learning skills to use AI in the study process?

RQ3. How do students and teachers assess whether AI helps develop self-directed learning skills?

RQ4. What is the relationship between teachers' and students' assessment of students' self-directed learning skills and their attitudes toward whether self-directed learning skills are necessary for using AI in the study process?

RQ5. What is the relationship between teachers' and students' assessment of students' self-directed learning skills and their attitudes toward whether AI helps develop students' self-directed learning skills?

This research adopted an online survey using a quantitative method of data collection. Based on the literature review, the research team developed a structured QuestionPro questionnaire , with 37 questions that was then shared with lecturers and students from UL from April 5 to May 15, 2023. The questionnaire consisted of four sections. The first demographic section was composed of 10 questions (gender, age, study level, and position at the university). Section two consisted of 15 questions related to the use of artificial intelligence in HE, section three included questions about the self-directed learning experience in HE. The preamble of the section indicated the explanation of self-directed learning skills in the context of the study. Section four included questions related to students’ experience of HE in the post-COVID-19 era. This paper analyzes only part of the questionnaire related to the research questions. We asked to fill out the questionnaire to all the University of Latvia students and university teachers. The study followed the research ethics recommendations of the UL, and full anonymity of respondents was provided. Participation in the survey was voluntary and anonymous. The study employed a convenience sampling method to select respondents based on their availability and willingness to participate. The survey was completed by 1374 people: 1273 students (8,3% of all UL students) and 101 university teachers (7,38% out of all UL officially elected university teachers). For analyses of our current study, we separated the respondents who answered questions about self-directed learning from the pool. A total of 762 respondents were identified: 692 students and 70 university teachers. At first, we tested the internal consistency of the measurements of survey instruments using Cronbach’s alpha (α). Alpha values of 0.7 are conventionally used thresholds (Taber, 2018). Our research on the reliability of all measurements for the student and university teachers survey was excellent: .971. As the data do not correspond to the normal distribution, so the non-parametric data analysis methods were used. Descriptive statistics, Spearman's Rank-Order Correlation, and Mann–Whitney U test was performed to analyze the survey data.

The expectations from the university and teachers regarding students' self-directed learning skills are much higher than the students think. In addition, students evaluate their self-directed learning skills more optimistically than teachers. In our study, we found that other studies have indicated, that a consequence of the pandemic is that students like to study alone rather than with other students. A surprising finding in our study was the result results that indicated that there is a significant difference between students' and teachers' answers on how they assess whether AI helps develop self-directed learning skills. Students had significantly more positive that self-directed learning skills are necessary to use AI in the study process than teachers. Our study results indicate that there is a significant difference between students' and teachers' answers on how they assess the need for self-directed learning skills to use AI in the study process. Students had significantly more positive that self-directed learning skills are necessary to use AI in the study process than teachers. There is a significant difference between students and teachers' answers on how they assess whether AI helps develop self-directed learning skills. Students had significantly more positive that self-directed learning skills are necessary to use AI in the study process than teachers. The development of self-directed learning skills requires meaningful learning experiences, but not all learning promotes self-directed learning skills. However, on the other hand, the new challenges related to the expansion and diversification of educational technology, hybrid learning forms, and opportunities to access and use AI create conditions where insufficiently developed self-directed learning skills in connection with the use of AI can pose threats to the quality of teaching-learning. Therefore, self-directed learning skills should be purposefully promoted in the university study process, but the students should also be autonomous in their learning process.

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