What+is+self-directed+learning?

**__Self-Directed Learning__**

Self-directed learning is a way of learning in which the learner has control over choices about the knowledge and skills that are acquired throughout the process. Now that I am back in post secondary education, I am again experiencing self directed learning. However, this program encourages it on such a larger scale. When I was completing my first degree, a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Geography, my self-directed learning consisted of finding a thesis for research essays. I often had choice regarding the topic of the essay I was writing. I could write about ‘gentrification in Eastside Vancouver’ or focus on ‘impacts of immigration on the demographics of Kerrisdale’. However, in the Learning and Teaching with Technology program, each member of the cohort, with varying skills in technology, is directing their own path to set goals, to design their own methods for learning, to attain knowledge, and to evaluate the learning. Moreover, the gains I make in this program I can spread to my students and encourage them to be self-directed in their learning. This is something that I think students incredibly lack in our education system. That is what it is, a system. This system puts so much emphasis on grades and percentages that students lose touch with what is so great about growing throughout a lifetime, a love for learning. Learning is something that is taken for granted. Many students do not realize how much learning occurs in a school everyday. An ‘A’ student who helps another student in class to answer a Math question is learning how to explain, learning how to teach, learning how to be a leader, and learning how to be empathetic. On the other hand, the struggling Math student is learning how to be cooperative, learning how to be accepting of help, and learning what it feels like to experience a bit of success in a subject that is typically so difficult. Students do not just learning course content in schools. They learn social skills and emotions. Of course, this learning does not just occur in schools. Students are also children who learn from their parents. Students are also employees who learn from their managers. Therefore, learning is a lifelong process that should be appreciated and valued by everyone. I like to think about the fact that my 90-year old grandparents are still learning even though they have experienced such a rich life already. They are now learning how to receive emails with attached photos of my life out here on the West Coast. As I think about the self-directed learning journey that lies ahead of us, I feel anxious about the breadth of our learning and how I am going to possibly bring it back to focus. I now understand how my students feel when I give them an open assignment with many choices or possibilities for them to make on their own. I recently gave my Social Studies 11 students a portfolio assignment with a number of possible assignments to choose from. The project consisted of various assignments that would appeal to different learning styles. Each student could focus on the assignments that represented their strongest skills. Yet, students also had the choice to take risks and challenge themselves to learn using skills that they do not excel at. I wanted them to take this project and complete it with a sense of pride about what they produced. I want to complete this program in a similar way with a sense of accomplishment and with tools pass on to other educators and students. I completed the ‘Self-directed learning inventory’ from the Field Programs Learning Tools. When I consider my own inner-resources for self-directed learning, clarity seems to be my biggest concern. While I like to consider myself a “take-it-one-day-at-a-time kind of guy,” I also am quite a perfectionist and I need to have clear deadlines. I can be known to procrastinate, yet I need to complete actions without flaws or else I am not satisfied. I am very determined when a clear goal is in sight. However, at this early stage of the program, I cannot see the goal clearly and I struggle to find which path to follow. As I read the “Walkabout” article, the idea of student-centred classrooms is reinforced. In a way, the portfolio assignment that I mentioned can be altered to represent a sort of “walkabout” through a period in history. I was also reminded of the field trip I organize for my Geography 12 students. In September, I take my class on the hike of their lives to the peak of Black Tusk in Garibaldi Park. Usually, none of my students have even been on a hike before, let alone straight up a mountain to the top. This is like the experiential learning in the article. These students are been challenged to do something that extends well beyond their normal capacities. Some schools that we encounter on our one day trip are camping up at Garibaldi Lake. This Adventure is something that is not necessarily self-directed, but it does challenge the student to learn in an unfamiliar environment.