SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING AND THE ASSUMPTIONS OF ANDRAGOGY

Self-directed Learning and the Assumptions of Andragogy

Self-directed Learning and the Assumptions of Andragogy

1) What do you think about self-directed learning in what and how we learn?

According to myriad number of studies, self-directed learning is a comprehensive concept that can be described in two interacting domains: the amount of control within an institutional setting (total teacher control vs. total leaner control) and leaner control in situations outside the formal institutional setting (“autodidaxy” as the individual, non-instructional pursuit of learning opportunities in the natural societal setting) (Candy, 1991). Furthermore, as a concept, self-direction encompasses the perspectives of process and product and refers to four distinct components: “autonomy” as a personal attribute, “self-management” as capacity and willingness to conduct one's own education independently, “learner-control” as a mode of organizing instruction in formal settings and “lamer control” as the individual pursuit of learning opportunities in natural societal settings. The different modes of self-directed learning can be described as specific interactions of the above dimensions. However, the levels learners can achieve in different dimensions may depend on how familiar they are with an issue or how similar the area may be to one they have experienced it before. In his Theory of Self-Directed Learning, Knowles describes the surface of self-direction as a sequence of actions taking place along the course of learning in which the learner takes the initiative with or without the help of others-in (1) diagnosing his or her own needs concerning learning, (2) establishing learning goals, (3) identifying the necessary human and material resources, (4) choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies and (5) evaluating the learning outcomes.

This form of learning has immense number of advantages:

Encourages curiosity, research and self-discipline;

The person learns to solve problems by himself and;

It is more constructive.

Many people say that this task of self-learning has not only allowed them to develop the skills, but has also helped shape the personality in a positive way. On the contrary, a problem may appear if the person is not able to find a solution but any time he can get help from someone knowledgeable in any mailing list, forum, news groups , an association dealing with the issue or otherwise. Although this assistance may seem vague in actually solving the problem but this process aids the learner. It can find an interesting problem that makes you think and learn, and also help another with the same interests.

2) Can or should all learning be self-directed, why or why not?

Not all learning can be self-directed because there are number of fields that require enormous amount of efforts to complete the learning milestone. For instance: if someone is willing to be a doctor then not all his efforts can lead him to become a doctor but he will need a special training institute to guide him to complete the subjects he must study to become a doctor. He needs to have physical experiments, physical exercises and different kind of activities that inclined him to understand the overall ...