How much self-directed education do you do? How do you do it?

[shinkansen]

What exactly is "self-directed education ?"

I understand "self-taught", but have not heard this expression before.

 

[danielcollins]

What exactly is "self-directed education ?"

I understand "self-taught", but have not heard this expression before.

I always saw it as, having an interest and then doing research/reading books all of your own accord - without a teacher.

I have an interest in pharmacology, so I'll read loads of books and wikipedia pages.. watch YouTube videos etc.

 

[tyko berglund]

I usually do a ton of Internet research and learn whatever I want on my own. I write stories, do abstract art, learn new languages, memorize astronomy constellations and stellar names, and stuff like that.

School is reaaaaally screwed up and I might be taking my English class online soon. I haven't really gotten into it yet, though.

I am largely autodidactic, and it would seem reasonable that many(emphasis added)
Aspergers people are of this nature as well. Many Aspies may find that early in their
educational lives(as children) they were identified as gifted.
A bench mark IQ for doctors, lawyers, and Ph.Ds runs about 125, but to qualify as
a gifted child I believe requires a minimun score of 130 IQ. It is my understanding currently that as a
statistical matter scores above 130 IQ are very rare.

 

[On the Inside]

I am highly motivated to learn about things that interest me, and have been able to cobble together a career using the skills and knowledge learned from my many interests. My work is even largely self directed. I research the subject, experiment to find the best ways to present the key points, then engineer the final project. My supervisors generally provide some guidelines and timeframes, the rest is mostly up to me.

I guess I absorbed the idea that I would/should be academically successful, because I tried several times to finish my college education, but have failed in four attempts. I really like learning, in a wide variety of subjects, and am drawn to the energy of the learning environment. However, I really struggle with writing and oftentimes would veer way off course when studying, researching some interesting bit of minutiae vaguely related to the course material. Time management is also a large problem, so staying on track in classes was a challenge.

My last attempt to finish my degree was in an individualized learning program, where the student develops their own degree plan based on coursework, individualized learning experiences and individual projects. I thought this would be an advantage for me. To some extent it was, but one problem with this approach was the heavy reliance on writing, then there was the need to find people to be a project advisor. I was so uncomfortable with the idea of approaching someone to act as my advisor that it made it nearly impossible to move forward, since they were needed to help with developing project proposals. Needless to say, I still didn't finish, though I came closer than ever.

Learning, whatever it is your interested in, and however it is you want to do it, is such a wonderful thing. It is truly unfortunate that it has been tied so tightly to the need to be successful, for it to be worthwhile.

 

[Astroganga]

I used to never be able to stick to anything. I started writing a few novels, got bored and deleted them; ditto for song lyrics, there were myriad artworks I never completed, and I learned Welsh from a book but didn't finish the exercises in the last sixth of the book because I got frustrated with the tens of possible different verb endings depending on tense and who one is talking to or about.

Now I am older I persevere a bit more, like with Danish I am sticking with it, my understanding is already very good after two and a half months but I want to be able to speak it fluently too-so far with every other language I have learned, my understanding far outstrips my speaking abilities. When I think logically, it needn't be that way. I am now working on expanding my vocabulary (memrise is great for this) and there is a lengthy academic book on Danish grammar that I will buy soon.

There are a couple of things I have learned that I have stuck to, I taught myself genealogy and I have discovered more and have a better understanding of it, than my aunt who has done a degree in the subject. There have been a number of seemingly insurmountable road blocks that she couldn't get past but I could. In addition I have done trees for others, and in the process helped them find long lost relatives.

 

[On the Inside]

I used to never be able to stick to anything. I started writing a few novels, got bored and deleted them; ditto for song lyrics, there were myriad artworks I never completed, and I learned Welsh from a book but didn't finish the exercises in the last sixth of the book because I got frustrated with the tens of possible different verb endings depending on tense and who one is talking to or about.

Now I am older I persevere a bit more, like with Danish I am sticking with it, my understanding is already very good after two and a half months but I want to be able to speak it fluently too-so far with every other language I have learned, my understanding far outstrips my speaking abilities. When I think logically, it needn't be that way. I am now working on expanding my vocabulary (memrise is great for this) and there is a lengthy academic book on Danish grammar that I will buy soon.

There are a couple of things I have learned that I have stuck to, I taught myself genealogy and I have discovered more and have a better understanding of it, than my aunt who has done a degree in the subject. There have been a number of seemingly insurmountable road blocks that she couldn't get past but I could. In addition I have done trees for others, and in the process helped them find long lost relatives.

Perseverance has been a problem for me, as well. If there is something, a purpose, that is compelling me (almost always derived from within) I will pursue, but only as long as that compulsion is viable. Some projects have led to others, and I have continued with the activity. Woodworking is one that I have stuck with for quite a long time, and I have completed a lot of projects. Some things wither after one.

You mention a lot of projects started but not finished. I have done that also. For me, it is because things aren't shaping up quite like I wanted them to, or upon further exploration, weren't as good of an idea as I first thought. Other people have always told me it is my perfectionism that is getting in the way. That may be true, or it could be that the projects really weren't that good. I'd like to think that is my choice.

 

[On the Inside]

I took one class that was Internet based distance learning, which was well suited to my learning style. It was a writing intensive course that I needed to fulfill graduation requirements. While I still spent many late nights staring at a couple of sentences for an hour, trying to write four pages, there was a generous ammount of time to complete the course, so I could work towards reasonable, self determined deadlines to submit completed papers.

Other than doing a lot of reading, visiting museums and exhibits, and working on my own projects, I've also taken courses at the Anderson Ranch Arts center, Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, Hampshire College, and lots of community education classes related to my interests.

 

[Mia]

What exactly is "self-directed education ?"

I understand "self-taught", but have not heard this expression before.

I've known one person who was able to work at a self-directed education. He was a Julliard graduate in music who never performed in public. He went on with the help of his adviser to take courses that interested him, completing several undergraduate degrees in various disciplines. It's likely that he's still at University or taking courses, last I spoke to him he was in the midst of writing a book. Luckily in Canada loans and bursaries are available for anyone who wants to study at college or university. So he may still be studying and going to school in his pursuit of knowledge, he's probably in his late fifties by now.

 

[StevieRhi]

I don't really struggle too much in school- except for math. I can't do math. Good lord, I don't even know how to divide properly I've never self-taught myself a school subject but I've done it for fun, for topics that interest me. Greek mythology (mythology in general, really) is a big one, but that was in large part due to a series I was reading.

On the first day of Daylight Savings Time I was thinking that the whole thing is completely bogus; it was created to save energy/daylight for farmers. Then I was thinking about time in general. One revolution about the sun is considered a year, and Earth travels a certain distance during that time. Meaning it travels a certain distance at the three-month mark, and the one-month mark, and the one-week mark, and so on, down to the second. So every measurement of time could be measured by distance.

But what about planets of a different size? What about planets with a different size sun? Another is shaped like an egg because of its proximity to its sun!Uranus rotates north-to-south, and another planet (I forget the name) orbits three suns, somehow. Time isn't standard because it is measured by the body you're on and how long a revolution about its sun(s) takes and a million other things! What if you're weaving a random pattern through open space? How do you calculate the time there?

Then I was thinking about the notion of time travel.
Say we wanted to travel back in time to 1963, 53 years ago.

One revolution about the sun equals X, 5.879e+12 miles.
Then we would do 2016X- 53X
Which would essentially be this

1.1852064e+16
-
3.11587e+14

Which equaled ("equaled" that looks like it's spelled wrong)

1.1540477e+16

So that (1.1540477e+16) would be the distance we would need to travel if we wanted to go back to 1963....
Travel backwards...


But that doesn't make any sense! Just because we would travel that distance backwards doesn't mean time would travel backwards! So wouldn't time travel be impossible, if time is a measurement of distance?

But then I questioned aging...
And later I found out that time is considered a measurement of change.


This is going by the Gregorian calendar, so of course it's not starting at the beginning of Earth's formation. But what would be the "beginning"? When life first appeared? When human life first appeared? So I went with the familiar.

But I wasn't factoring in the Earth's rotation or ythe speed of light( I thought about it--how a light year isn't a measurement of time but of distance, because it's the distance light travels about the earth in a year--basically, a light year is a year.) so it's probably flawed in some way.

 

[StevieRhi]

I was also reading about types of faeries for a graphic novel I hope to draw/write some day.

I also like collecting random facts.

 

[StevieRhi]

And after that I was reading a fair bit about the Myer-Briggs personality test; specifically INTPs (since I am one ).

Ugh. That was a lot; no one wants to read walls of text. I'll just show myself out now.

 

[On the Inside]

And later I found out that time is considered a measurement of change

Change, direction and position is why time is relative. Perception plays a large part in the passage of time. It seems you are young, 1986 might seem a long time ago, but for me, it was the start of a really good time in my life (young adult) and seems like last year to me.

 

[Dee317]

I read the dictionary from cover to cover as a kid, I have always called myself a sponge of information, I'm my adult years it has been mostly medical in nature.

 

[On the Inside]

While I have probably read all of the dictionary, thesaurus too, I wasn't disciplined enough to read it cover to cover. I also liked to use the phone book to determine how common certain last names were.

 

[Astroganga]

I read two welsh dictionaries from cover to cover several times over as a teen, memorised quite a bit too but forgotten it now. Also place name and surname dictionaries. I also used to read medical textbooks from cover to cover and retained quite a bit from them.

 

[ZebraAutismo]

At the moment during collage I am self studying maths, statistics and health and social care. I have a tutor for all the subjects who I work with once a week. I like this way of learning as it is self paced and I can cantor it to my needs.