According to Briggs, S.

(2015), a self-directed learner is a person who, without the help of

others, identifies and selects his or her learning goals, resources, and materials, formulates

learning strategies, and ends up adhering to those strategies to achieve his or her learning goals.

The most essential aspects of self-directed learning are knowing what interests you, applying the

right dose of motivation, choosing your own study materials, choosing your own topics,

choosing your own tools, choosing your own projects, setting goals, assessing your progress, and

making sure you reach the end goal.

My two biggest strengths as a student are that I am very inquisitive. I like to ask questions and

apply critical thinking to everything I do. This means that I have to make an extra effort to

research information before accepting it as fact - I check the rationality and logic of all

information before accepting it as fact. To do this, I sometimes have to use different strategies

and empirical methods. And I have to pick and choose my own sources. And that, in my opinion,

is what education and as well, self-directed learning is all about.

Two of my biggest weaknesses as a student are laziness and procrastination. Sometimes I feel

like I am not motivated enough to study or learn things I want to learn. I feel like I need an extra

incentive to reach my learning goals. But I also see any outside pressure on my learning goal as a

burden. This can have a negative impact on me as a self-directed learner because it can lead me

to compromise on the quality of resources and materials or how far I can go to learn what I set

out to learn.

The most effective strategy for becoming a self-directed learner is to know how to ask relevant

questions and seek answers to those questions. Musallam, R. (2013) asserts that the seeds of

learning lie in questions, curiosity, and reflection, which can be windows to gaining information

about a topic. Another very useful strategy for effective self-directed learning is to learn how to
learn (Lee R, 2014). According to him, learning how to learn will affect the quality and number

of things you learn. Establishing a long-term learning plan and goal and making sure you stick to

it is another useful way to effective self-directed learning.

You can hold yourself accountable by evaluating and assessing your long-term plans and goals

and seeing how much of them you were able to accomplish.

references

Lee, R (2014, June 30).Self-Learning, Tedx. [Video]. Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtYahZhsy0M

Briggs S. (2015, May 8). 20 Steps to Self Directed Learning.

https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/29-steps-toward-more-self-directed-
learning/
Musallam, R.(2013, May 8). 3 Rules to Spark Learning. [Video] Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsYHqfk0X2A&t=6s