Self-directed learning is a learning process where the responsibility to learn falls on the individual learner, rather than an external source such as a trainer. It’s also known as autodidacticism, in which the individual becomes responsible for planning, carrying out, and evaluating their learning practices.

It’s not hard to see why people have taken the leap towards self-directed learning. In a workplace setting, it takes the pressure off supervisors to be available to teach and guide at all hours of the working day and shifts the responsibility of learning to the individual employee, who can take the time to learn at their own pace.

With this popularity in mind, it’s no wonder that self-directed learning proposes to have several advantages. Unfortunately, as popular as self-directed learning is, it also has its setbacks.

• Not enough time: Without a trainer or teacher to guide learning, it’s up to the individual to find time to fit learning into their busy schedule, which adds unnecessary stress to the learner's schedule.
• Not knowing where to start: Beginning a new topic can be overwhelming, particularly when there are numerous options to choose from. This feeling of being overwhelmed can be demotivating, resulting in a lack of effort towards learning.
• Lack of feedback: Self-directed learning allows for flexibility, but it also means that there is no one to grade the learner's progress or provide feedback on how to improve. This lack of feedback can make it difficult to gauge the effectiveness of the learning process.
• Lack of motivation: Motivation is crucial for completing self-directed learning. When individuals lack interest or enthusiasm, they won’t have the drive to seek out new learning opportunities, making it difficult to learn effectively. Education that is undertaken begrudgingly is not as effective.

Guided learning is exactly the opposite of self-directed, in that an external source is tasked with directing the individual’s learning process. It could be suggesting areas of study, providing resources and learning materials, or giving feedback on goals met. The important part is for the individual to receive some form of guidance to keep them on track in their own education.

We know what you’re thinking. “But guided learning is so old-school!” It really doesn’t have to be. In fact, guided learning has some advantages over self-directed learning, alleviating some of the drawbacks we noted earlier.

We actively advocate for guided learning as a leading driver of causation in L&D ROI. We want users to be self-directed when it comes to how and when they learn, but we also want users to be directed towards relevant capabilities based on business outcomes. Strategic impact can be clearly demonstrated with the guided learning approach – but it’s not easily done, if at all, with purely self-directed efforts.

For a more in-depth look at self-directed learning, have a read of the full article.


--