One of the best ways to learn anything is to teach yourself. —Giles Rich
Are you making productive use of your time? It is now the right time to sharpen your skills. Skill is defined as the ability to do something well. These skills can be career skills, self-development skills, or technical skills. One can always learn anything from anywhere if they have a want that is surprising enough that ultimately results in one to achieve it. This self-initiated activity to gather new knowledge is known as self-learning or as Wikipedia refers to it as Autodidacticism. Self-directed learning is something that will happen at some point in your life. It may be for learning something new or just clarifying your doubts. Self-learning is often initiated by one’s own desire to learn something new. If you have this deep desire to acquire new knowledge then you will surely learn more.
“According to Malcom Knowles, self-learning is defined as: “a process by which individuals take the initiative, with or without the assistance of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, and evaluating learning outcomes”.
Self-learning is a fast, convenient, and effective way of modern learning. One can learn anything as long as you learn it yourself. Self-learning provides us with the option of choosing between what to learn when to learn, and how to learn anything. A learner can choose what they would like to learn as there exists a wide range of topics that can be explored by them. Classes covering fields of science, law, business, engineering, politics, history, advanced machine learning, and many more There are numerous mediums that one can opt to, regarding where they would like to learn. Nowadays one can learn anything new by just doing a Google search or watching a YouTube video It’s all possible because of the internet. Learners can learn at any time of their convenience thus making self-learning a hassle-free learning process. Self-learning is neither location constrained nor time-bound and all that is needed is an access to a computer and a reliable internet connection to engage in self-learning.
Some key elements of self-learning are curiosity and patience. Curiosity makes our brains more receptive to learning. When you learn to satisfy a level of curiosity, it makes the learning journey more enjoyable. A great part of learning is to satisfy some level of curiosity and learning occurs naturally when there is curiosity. This, therefore, means that you will be motivated to learn and you will get to acquire much more knowledge when the drive comes from within than from outside sources. Self-learning help one to satisfy one’s curiosity. Being curious means, you look forward to learning new things. It is an opportunity to learn something new at your own pace and time. Self-learning requires a lot of patience. Depending on the complexity of the topic, the time required per subject may change accordingly.
Nowadays individuals all over the world have access to a cost-efficient learning experience Unacademic, Udacity, Ted, Coursera, and Academic Earth are just a few of the low-cost or free education providers available through the web.
Advantages of Self-Learning
- Effective learning: Exploring a topic on your own encourages yourself to actively engage with the information and make connections between what they are learning. one can Learn Easier and Faster
- Ability to discover more about the topics you’re studying: Self-study is all about searching out new information on a topic you’re interested in. Exploring more information ourselves about the topic gives us the chance to learn more about the topic.
- It can boost your self-esteem: When you’re able to self-study you gain more confidence in yourself. This makes you an independent person who can learn new things without any guidance.
- Developing Strong Problem-Solving Skills: Self-learning gives you the ability to identify problems and quickly come up with effective solutions
- It is a Stress-Free Learning Process: There is no pressure to learn the required content within a certain time
- Gain other secondary Skills: In the process, one gets to learn other important skills such as time management, self-assessment, and setting your own goals.
- The Learning Experience Becomes More Meaningful: As the self-learning process is initiated by one’s desire to learn something new This desire will act as a driving force to learn more and make this whole process more meaningful.
- You Get to Choose Your Mode of Learning: YouTube tutorials, webinars, books, or any other mode of learning is at your disposal when you decide to learn. With all these modes of learning within your reach, you get to choose one that suits you best for the requirements
- Find a More Rewarding Career: Learning new skills makes you better-rounded so you can more easily find what you love to do.
Self-learning process
- Find a reliable text resource: You are about to study the unknown content so choose a text with adequate data you require. The Internet is an optimal resource for learners and more sites specifically towards learning anytime and anywhere. Before selecting the resource, you must be certain about the resource. Always check for online reviews and the table of contents to check if the resource is sufficient.
- Set up a framework: Framework is a basic foundation for your learning process in this. Identify the main topics that are covered and which is the most important by glancing through the resources.
- Scheduling set up a deadline: This will help us to assign time to various activities. Always Have daily, weekly and monthly planners and try to follow to it
- Do it: Read the resources and try to understand the concept Also, refer additional resources for a better understanding of the topic. Always review your performance by taking up tests.
Tips to Learn by Yourself
- Get Ready to Learn: Any kind of learning requires one to be ready to do so be in the right mind-set. Try to understand what you want to learn, and why this subject is relevant to you.
- Have Clear Learning Goals: Have a well-defined goal regarding what’s that you require and what needs to be achieved by the end. A clear-cut plan will always help in this.
- Decide Which Tools You Want to Use Depending on the subject matter: There are different resources available for you. Choose one that best suits your learning style and one that will be most effective.
- Decide How You Want to Assess Yourself: Always assess yourself because there is no to do so. Nowadays some courses offer taking up online and offline quizzes, and tests that you complete at your own pace. Assessment can be done based on performance on the test or analysing whether you have reached the milestone you’ve set yourself or not. This assessment helps you get an idea about where you stand
Self-learning is an emerging form of learning that has emerged due to the availability of learning resources online. Self-learning enables you to learn what you want when you want, and how you want. Self-directed learning is a modern form of learning at this time of this Global pandemic, it is the time to learn something new and learn it yourself.
