The Main Steps of Self-directed Learning

Personally, I use self-directed learning in my daily life and there are five steps of self-directed:

Firstly, setting goals. Typically, I would set two types of goals: short-term goals and long-term goals. Short-term goals basically can be accomplished in the near future such as doing well on the upcoming quiz. For me, short-term goals are often easy to plan for because I have a clear idea about how to accomplish them. Long-term goals, on the other hand, take more time to attain like getting into a local university or getting an “A” for my overall module grade. In my opinion, long-term goals can be difficult to plan for because there might be a lot of steps needed to accomplish them. For myself, I set short-term goals to get closer to achieve my long-term goals.

Example: an individual whose long-term goal is to get accepted into a local university will set several short-term goals for themselves. This includes passing all of their exams as well as getting involved in extracurricular activities for a couple of hours every week.

Create a Plan

Next, would be developing a plan to execute the goal(s). In this step, there are numerous things that I would consider when planning such as:

Timing

• • When will I study?
  • How long will I study for?

Material

• What do I need to learn?
• Effective learning strategies
• How will I study?
• Monitor learning

Next off, is to monitor my own learning. I feel that monitoring my learning is crucial as this will test my knowledge – what do, and don’t I understand. By doing this, I will be able to asses my progress towards my goal as I study. For example, I would monitor my learning by asking myself questions like:

• What do I understand?
• Can I answer practice problems without referring to my notes?
• Can I explain the concept to someone else?
• Can someone else understand what I am trying to say in my writing?
• Is there anything that is confusing or unclear?

Thus, the responses from the previous question I question myself would lead to this step, which is to ask for help when necessary. If I do not understand the material after trying to learn it on my own, I would always seek help from friends as well as the facilitator.

Finally, to reflect on my learning techniques. After everything is done, I would consider if I accomplished my goal and look back on the plan that I have created and carried out. By asking myself questions like the following:

• Did I accomplish my goal?
• Was the plan effective in helping to accomplish the goal?
• What elements of my plan would I keep or change for the next time that I have a similar goal? In this way, it will help me identify the strengths and weaknesses of my approach to improve the next time.