Self-Directed Learning

Nature of Self-Directed Learning

The philosophical orientation underlying self-directed learning is humanistic in nature. From this perspective, the focus of learning is on the individual and self-development, with learners expected to assume primary responsibility for their own learning with autonomy. Self-directed learning views learners as responsible owners and managers of their own learning process. Self-directed learning assumes that learners are motivated by internal incentives, such as the desire to grow.

There are several related concepts often used interchangeably or in similar ways. Some examples include self-regulated learning, self-planned learning, and autonomous learning. Self-regulated learning is a more process-oriented concept, whereby learners control and evaluate their own learning and behavior to achieve their goals, while self-directed learning focuses more on learners’ initiation of learning. Self-planned learning is defined as a learner’s deliberate attempt to learn some specific knowledge and/or skill, wherein the learner is responsible for the detailed decisions and arrangements regarding the learning activities. Autonomous learning, sometimes called student-centered learning, relates to the change in focus in the classroom from teaching to learning where students are actively involved in a process of knowledge construction through various learning activities and using their prior knowledge. Although all these concepts emphasize student autonomy, they do not mean the learners conduct all their activities on an entirely independent basis.

To better understand self-directed learning, it is important to understand how it differs from teacher-directed learning. The latter assumes the learner is essentially dependent on the teacher who takes full responsibility for what the learner should be taught. In contrast, self-directed learning assumes people become increasingly self-directing as an essential component of maturing. [Page 1494]Similarly, in the teacher-directed learning perspective, the learner’s experience is less valued than the teacher’s or teacher surrogate’s, whereas the self-directed learning perspective views the learner’s experiences as an increasingly rich resource for learning. Moreover, teacher-directed learning is usually subject centered, while self-directed learning is typically centered on a task or problem.

Importance of Self-Directed Learning

Learning is ideally a lifelong process in the pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Self-directed learning helps learners to become more effective learners and to develop their own effective learning patterns depending on their learning styles, pace of learning, interests, goals, among other factors. There is growing evidence that individuals who take initiative in learning learn more things better and deeper than those who are passive and dependent in their learning. In particular, the emergence of web-based forms of learning has enabled learners to easily access useful, free, and open learning content, giving learners more power over decisions about what to learn, when to learn, and how much to learn. Self-directed learning opportunities have multiplied in this age of open educational resources, and it is no longer realistic to define the purpose of education as delivering prepackaged knowledge.

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