Originally published here.
I define independent learning as an inner skill. It is not easy to learn, some are born to do it well and some take time to gain this skill. I view independent learning as a mature way of learning, being comfortable enough to research and evaluate said research on your own. It's the ability to take what you want to learn about into your own hands and of your own accord read and take in what you are researching. An example is when a student goes home to research on a topic, is he A; Going to surf the web and struggle to take it all in. Or B; Confidently and efficiently going to use a variety of medias to gain knowledge about their topic.Currently. I am student A. I feel sometimes I struggle to research information and learn about it. However, sometimes for myself it can be about enthusiasm. I did lots of ice hockey research in year 11 and enjoyed learning more and more about a topic I loved. On the other hand, sometimes it can be the information available.. or lack of it. I sometimes struggle to find articles about what I want to learn, let alone validate it.
I hope to come out of this course with confidence. I would like to go away whenever life requires me to learn. Not worry about failing and knowing I will struggle. But have the confidence to know what I am looking for and how to pull the parts away from the information that I need.