It’s pretty standard practice for the majority of people to start out in the learning process of life by being taught. You are taught basic tasks and functions by your parents. From the first day you enter a classroom, you are taught by an assortment of teachers, instructors and educators of various types. You spend years, perhaps decades being taught by someone who has acquired a certain knowledge before you did and is now ready to pass it on.
As life continues, you pass from those stages of being taught into a free-fall world where you are either expected to already know what needs to be known or you are left to your own devices. It is here where your own natural curiosity and ability to direct your own pattern of learning comes into play. Self-directed learning is where you can expand and excel in your educational pursuits. If you’re ready to pilot your own ship when it comes to the next step in your learning curve, you need to be aware of your options
Is Autodidacticism for you?
Autodidacticism or self-directed learning is the greatest avenue open to you for making a difference for yourself and the world around you. If you only learn what someone else thinks you should know, you haven’t advanced yourself or the world in any significant way. When you direct the course of your future education, you open the door for new ideas and discoveries. You decide what is important for you to learn. You decide how far you want to pursue your education goals. You decide where this knowledge comes from and where you take it from here. You can use this new direction to make a difference.
There has never been a better time to pursue education on your own terms. Education technology has opened doors to every idea and subject matter known to humanity. You learn in the ways best suited to your own learning style. You go as deep or as wide as you decide to go. You create the curriculum that leads you to your goals.
As an individual, self-directed student, you are not distracted by the chaos of standard classroom settings where the slowest student is often the least common denominator who sets the progress for the class. You move at your own pace. You pull ahead when you’ve mastered the information. You make the decision to hold back a bit when you need more time to absorb material. You decide when it’s time to change direction in the subject matter.
In case it hasn’t been obvious by the outline of self-directed learning, the emphasis is on you, the student. Once you have mastered the basic learning skills in life, you are free to go out and learn for pleasure or profit. Formal education is a great jumping-off point for life. Once you have the basics down, true education is under your own control. You can open up pathways on your own that no one could ever hand to you by teaching you to follow a pre-determined course guideline.