Self-directed learning is a concept that is still fairly new to the elementary and secondary classrooms. Most of the research online led to articles about adult learning environments in which adults conducted their own learning goals and set their own learning paces based on a given agenda. The use of self-directed learning as a teacher driven method derives from the ideas of adult self-directed learning, but it takes on a different meaning once applied within the classroom.
To compare the two ideas, adult self-directed learning means people pursuing secondary education or an interest beyond their current scope of knowledge decide to explore methods of obtaining the desired knowledge (Abdullah, 2001). These methods may include how-to books, online courses, research, or continuing education that is not set in a formal atmosphere. It is a desire to learn something new or to expand current knowledge that drives them to continue their quest. In a teacher driven scenario, self-directed learning also encourages students to learn something new or to expand their current knowledge base. The difference is that with the teacher drive model, the outcome is more controlled and students are taught essential critical thinking and problem-solving skills in order to obtain answers to questions.
Using self-directed learning in a classroom gives students the ability to become more active within a lesson. Proper questioning and guidance from the teacher will help direct the students to the correct conclusions but restricts the teacher from simply handing out the answers. By letting the students arrive at the conclusion, they now have ownership in the problem and should have awakened a desire, in the form of other questions, to learn more about the topic. Allowing students to discover information on their own lets them feel more passionately about the material and boosts their self confidence. It also helps concrete the information into their knowledge base so that recall for future assignments or tests will flow more easily.
Self-directed learning in the classroom can be done with a variety of lessons. The teacher must plan this type of session carefully in order to direct her students to the outcome she desires. She must also allow for modifications within her lessons as the session progresses (Borich, 2007, p. 340). She must also remember to stay within the limits of the self-directed learning strategy by not offering answers that students should be able to find for themselves. Sometimes it is easier to give the answer or offer a correction in order to move forward within the lesson, but doing that does not guarantee that all students will understand how or why that answer is correct. By carefully guiding the questions or suggesting ideas from past experiences, teachers should be able to help students master a topic through the student's own discoveries.
Research shows that self-directed learning is an important method because it shows people how to learn (Long & Guglielmino, 2005, p. 20). Many other teaching methods simply give the facts, figures, or other answers without explanation of how to arrive at that given answer. Students fall into the mindset that an answer must be correct because the teacher, textbook, or some other authority directly said it was true. They do not develop the skills needed to learn information on their own and to be able to form their own judgments on the findings. Self-directed learning within a classroom shows students how to locate answers, verify information, and build on their own knowledge base by making the newly acquired information relevant to their own learning.
As mentioned before, self-directed learning can be used in a variety of lessons. While it is most assuredly easier to simply give information to students such as facts, letting students discover the information on their own will be much more rewarding. For example, a teacher could conduct a self-directed learning session about the Civil War. Much of the information students learn about this war have to do with dates and reasons for the war itself. The teacher could place a timeline on the board, and then direct students to fill in the dates and events that she has marked. The guidance she has given is the set number of a dates and events needed to complete the timeline. Her challenge to the students is to find the information that fits. Students could being the activity by asking her questions about the start of the Civil War such as were there events that led to the start? What could those events be? The teacher could then help them focus on events they have already learned about in their history lessons that will help them link the pieces of the timeline puzzle. For instance, she could ask them what was the political arena like leading up to the Civil War? She could remind them that they learned there was a division between states on how the government should be run and ask them to further explore events that led from that idea. Those types of leading questions should help the students understand the starting point and what types of events she is looking for without telling them specifically what information is. It is okay to let students know when they have arrived at a correct answer, but she needs to survey the discussions and continue to offer guidance to keep the students on the right track in accordance with her assignment.
Self-directed learning is a method that can further enhance a student's learning. This method shows the students how to obtain knowledge on his own by developing his critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills. Teachers that employ this method will help their students become successful learners well into adulthood and will hopefully inspire life long learners.
