Running head: Written Assignment Unit 5 1

Written Assignment Unit 5 - Self-Directed Learning

University of the People

Univ 1001 – Online Education Strategies

Ada Kovaci-Kume

May 13, 2021

 Self-Directed Learning

What is a self-directed learner?

A self-directed learner is someone who takes charge with his or her learning, is

passionate about learning something new every time he or she gets the opportunity, and is driven

with curiosity about new things.

What are the essential aspects of self-directed learning?

According to Output Education, there are five essential elements of self-directed learning

(n.d.). They also stated that these elements outline the structure of self-directed learning activities

and programs. The five key aspects are: (1) Student control over as much of the learning

experience as possible, (2) Skill development, (3) Students learning to challenge themselves to

their best possible performance, (4) Student self-management, management of themselves and of

their learning enterprises, and (5) Students motivate and assess their own efforts.
 Lorin Anderson and David Krothwohl updated the types of thinking skills (2015).

Remembering & recalling, understanding, and applying are the types of thinking that you use in

early and middle school. While analyzing, evaluating and creating are what you normally

practice in college or in adult learning. As we grow older, we become more responsible to our

learning experience. Instead of just receiving information from teachers, we are now required to

use critical thinking skills to not just get a better understanding of the lesson, but to have a

divergent way of learning.

Skill development is experimenting and identifying your learning styles and other talents

for a more productive learning experience.Students who are either going for master's degree,

taking up a few units in a course they are interested in or enrolling for refresher courses, are

challenging themselves to their best possible performance. It is also the same concept as adult

learning.

The fourth aspect is how well you manage your time, energy and resources to juggle your

daily tasks and responsibilities while maintaining a good educational output. During stressful

situations as adults, it is tempting to just drop one thing so you can have more hands for other
tasks. But responsible student with good self-management knows that dropping a thing or two

does not resolve the situation.

After setting a goal, a student finds inspiration and uses this as a motivation to accomplish

it. The output is being assessed based on the methods he or she used to reach to the level of

learning.

What are your two biggest strengths as a student?

As a student, my top two strength would be my ability to speak, read and write the

international language. Because of this, I was able to get into this university and have the

privilege to meet different kinds of students of different background.

My other strength is having intrapersonal intelligence. I am always checking my inner

feelings about certain things and is on reflective mode when I am alone. At first, I thought that I

am just a push-over and it frustrates me that I always find it in my heart (and mind) to say that “I

understand”, at some point – I do... But when I took up some in-depth personality analysis, I

discovered that I was like that because of this said trait.

How will these strengths help you become a self-directed learner?

I think my strengths will help me develop self-directed learning. Knowing the language

means I have unlimited access to the information around the globe. I can use it to ask questions

and speak to people from different nationalities.

Having intrapersonal intelligence will also help me in assessing and synthesizing external

ideas to my own, so I can produce a more diverse understanding on a given subject.

What are your two biggest weaknesses as a student?

I think my two biggest weaknesses as a student is my age and my educational

background. I will be turning 40 in August, and I now experience aging signs. How my brain

functions when I was 22 is really different to what I have now. Retention is bad and processing

is slow.

Also, coming from a country with a weak educational system does not help me keep up

with my peers. I find that I have a lot to learn and that what I currently know is not enough to

provide a more critical feedback for their work.

How do these affect your readiness to be a self-directed learner?

I guess the effect is minimal and manageable. The gap in what I know can be

compensated by learning some background about a certain subject and starting early will help me

keep up with the class deadlines.

Describe at least three strategies to become a more self-directed learner.

I picked three strategies to become a more self-directed learner from Sarah Briggs’ “20

Steps Towards More Self-Directed Learning “, (2015). The first one is to “identify your learning

goals”, second is to “start with background on a topic”, and third is to “keep your goals realistic”.

Identifying your learning goal is like setting a smart goal. You decide what you want to

learn, when are you going to start/stop learning and how will you achieve the learning goal.

Knowing these metrics means that you have a clear vision of what you would like to learn as a

self-directed learner.

Since I mentioned earlier that I came from a country with very poor educational system,

learning a few things about the origin of a certain topic will help me better understand how to go

forward with my self-learning. It’s like back-ward planning.

 Just like my first choice of self-directed learning strategy, keeping your goal realistic is

also another trait of a smart goal. You have to check the risks over the benefits so that you won’t

have to waste time starting a dead-end goal. However, this can also be a great opportunity for you

to discover that that closed alley can turn into a highway.

How will you hold yourself accountable for your growth as a learner?

Being a learner does not mean you have to be enrolled in a certain program, there are some

instances that you are a learner even in our daily lives. So, recognizing what you know and do not

know in a certain topic is a good starting point to set learning goals. This is what I always do

whenever I am trying to learn something. Being 40-ish with a lot on my plate makes me a snob to

new ideas. To me, it can either be petty or just a waste of time. To stop this, I will also make

conscious effort to always be curious and motivated, so that I will be open to new ideas.
 References

College Success. (2015, December 4). Types of thinking (Chapter 3.1). University of

Minnesota. https://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/chapter/3-1-types-of-thinking/

Briggs, S. (2015, May 3). 20 Steps Towards More Self-Directed Learning. OpenColleges.edu.

https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/29-steps-toward-more-self-directed-

learning/
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