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The 'Zone' of Auto/PedagogyAt various points in the process of editing down the literature review, I noticed that I had quotedauthors using the term 'zone' to describe a phenomenon that they were working with. I havereferred to Vygotsky and his celebrated term, the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky,1954 or 1978). In this 'zone', learners are helped across a metaphorical or virtual gap betweenwhat they know or can do and that which is as yet beyond their reach. They are helped by anexpert or tutor, teacher or pedagogical/andragogical agent [my term] who supplements theprocess with wisdom, insight or expertise by being close (or proximal) to them in the journey"It is the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independentproblem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problemsolving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers." (Vygotsky,1978 p. 86).Implicit in this notion is the assessment of the learner's capabilities at the outset. Learning isdeemed to have occurred when a subsequent assessment has been undertaken and there isevidence that the gap has been closed. At no point does the theoretical framework that isemerging from my research, provide a fixed point of entry, a training needs analysis or anentrance test. In my view, learners determine the point of engagement through their instinctiveor visceral response to a need that 'pops up' in their career pathway. Similarly, only they knowwhen learning has been sufficiently profound to enable them to assert that the gap has beenclosed and they can move on, perhaps to a new zone of auto/pedagogic activity.Inside the zone, however, there are, according to the findings of my research, some pedagogicalagents who, consciously or not, scaffold the learning experience, in keeping with theconstructivist theories of Vygotsky (1978). Human agents may model, by example, "how theydo it", which may be good enough for the learner. This certainly worked for me, looking backon the agency of the children over whose shoulders I looked (see appendix 2). Computer agents281Simon Hughes Ph.D. Thesis (October 2012)