The Importance of Self Directed Learning

I have done and am currently doing self directed learning! The things i have been extremely interested in, but have no prior knowledge or training in have been the Adobe software products. I have been facinated by peoples ability to create graphic design pieces or art with just the use of a camera and these adobe software programs. This summer i tasked myself, with the help of my internship, with learning how to be extremely proficient on Adobe InDesign. InDesign is extremely applicable for the career i want to go into, which is Brand Marketing and Media Development. Originally, i started using the InDesign introductory textbook and found that without the dual software and tutorial videos, that method really wasnt working for me. What did help me learn InDesign was asking  people that worked with me questions and looking up tutorial videos on Youtube! I learned through this self- directed learning that i am a very visual learner and reading a textbook to help me learn a computer program was definitely not the best way for me to learn!

Although I am not doing any self-learning presently, I have done it in the past. This would include: researching topics I am curious about, finding healthy and delicious meals, or even just looking up what time to see a movie. Self-learning has really helped me to broaden my horizons past what I’ve learned in the classroom. In the past I’ve found videos, written blogs, and easy to follow guides to be the most effective tools for self learning.

I did some self-directed learning when learning how to use Google Adwords. I found their website, Google Partners, to be extremely effective. It had everything laid out very nicely in a variety of study guides. Outside of that, I don't think I have done a lot of self-directed learning, but I'm sure the internet would be a huge help in this field.

I am currently not doing any self-directed learning but in the past I have. Whether it has been looking up things for a class that I do not feel like flipping through my textbook or looking up recipes for my next dinner. I found this to be very effectvive because everything is right there and you do not have to leave the house. It is very efficient. In the future I plan on taking free online course on Google Analytics and HubSpot. This will greatly improve my skills on Digital Marketing and I can use those skills when I am done with college. Taking classes like this will keep my skills finely tuned for life after school. 

I do a lot of self directed learning using the internet to learn about subjects that I am interested in like healthy eating tips or makeup and fasion ideas.  In addition to this I have been exploring books on health and beauty.  I think it would be benefitial to push myself more and take a cooking or makeup class.  It is really important to continue to learn and find ways to explore your talents beyond Univertsity eucation.

I have always been someone who relies on a structured schedule. Being an ex-swimmer, I would train 20 hours a week and would have my week planned out for me with mandatory practices. This is how I grew up and is why I am my best self with structure. When I decided to stop swimming I needed to find another way to occupy my time. This is when I decided to apply to internships and jobs. Swimming was always a huge part of my life but it wasn't my whole life. I knew that I would have to grow up eventually and start planning for the next steps of life. I applied to Public Relations internships in New York City and ended up at Ralph Lauren this past summer. This wasn't something that was mandatory for school but it was something I found mandatory for life. I was able to apply my skills from my classes at Michigan State and even got to learn more about the industry. This self-directed learning made me realize that this is what I would like to do with the rest of my life. Once the internship was over and it was time to head back to East Lansing, I continued to look for internship opportunities in the area so I could continue to improve on my skills and also occupy my free time. I find this effective because I am learning more and more every day and I have found structure and new meaning in my life. This keeps me sharp and motivated every day. 

I personally listen to tons of Podcasts to learn. Every morning while getting ready or on the drive home I'll pick one to listen to. I have a library ranging on topics from news, health and fitness, social media, entrepreneurship, feminism and business ownership and tactics. I've found that this is the easiest way for me to learn on top of traditional school and other things that get jam packed into my day. I also love new blogs and reading quick articles that give me 1-2 pieces of valuable, useful information and I can directly integrate into my everyday life. 

Do you think that self-directed learning is a new development with the internet? I am always trying to learn and teach myself. When I was twelve years old I taught myself the piano. I could already read music as I played the trumpet, so I just figured out where "C" was, bought a book and off I went. I took lessons later on to hone my techique. Later on, I taught myself the guitar and drums. I still prefer to use a book rather than look up information from the internet, I just find it easier to find the page, or flick through and find the information I need. I find it is often better to dive in and doing what you need to do and learn as you go rather than research everything beforehand and then do the task. Youtube is probably the most useful internet platform I use for learning. As a musician I usually research several different recordings of a piece of music I am going to play, something that would have previously been very difficult or expensive. I also find Youtube invaluable for learning other skills such as fixing things up on my house or car. It seems that there is a youtube to do almost anything these days. I'm still waiting on a Youtube video to perform brain surgery!

While I am not currently doing something to actively change how I do my self-directed learning, I think the technique I use the most is trial and error. I have never really thought about how to be a better self taught learner, I have just figured out over time how to be more efficient any platform I have used by figuring it out one piece at a time. That being said, I think the best ways to improve my self-directed learning would be to attending seminar and taking online courses, because then you have experts helping you learn instead of trying to figure it out yourself. 

Self-learning is very important for my generation because we never have to remember information since it is so readily available. Because of this, I am reliant on search engines like google to give me answers to almost any questions I have. This could be considered a method of self-learning, but I actually learn best in my online classes and clubs that I have joined. I attend weekly meetings with the MSU Advertising Association where companies from different backgrounds in communications come in and discuss their current jobs and how they got there. This helps me to learn more about what I should be doing for my major and future job. I also take a lot of online classes and this helps because I really have to set aside time to learn the material on my own versus having a professor lecturing on the material. One specific class I took was to learn Adobe Illustrator and I really had to put extra time into this because the online teacher tutorials didn't give me all of the answers I needed.

Self directed learning is soemthing I feel people do in most facets of their lives. A new way to accomplish a task, new way to finish a game, solve a problem is something you do in almost every day. Most recently for me, I've taken summer courses that were pretty straightforward and required diligent bookreading. For me it's different from one of my newer business courses which is so open ended that I've got to imagine business scenarios and play them out in an environment where the grading is very situational.

From my point of view, I agree with this point. I think it is true in now a days we have a better time to explore self-learning, and we have better ability than our parents' learning time. Last summer, I took like four online courses, and I just learned all the stuff online and by myself. I do have a lot self-directed learning, I have an IAH class this semester, honestly I do not really understand some lecture stuff in the class, but I do some research online and learn the course by my own way. I think by self-directed learning, I feel more comfortable and easier to learn some difficult things that I may not able to understand in the class. 

I find it easy to learn things off of YouTube. I took a Screenwriting class last semester which is a good example of that. 

I had never taken a class like that before and I wanted to get started with Screenwriting. The class entailed of a lighter workload and all of it was learning how to use the screenplay writing software and coming up with well-written drafts, so that the instructor would be able to help recognize my strong points and the areas I needed to work on. The majority of the learning that we did in the class was on our own.

It helped me realize how much dependent I'm on YouTube for learning new things. YouTube offered tutorials on the software we had to learn for the class. For my writing assignments, I would explore different YouTube channels and listen to people share their experiences with screenplay writing at a beginners level and would note down the tips they's have to offer on the topic. And eventually, by the time I would turn in my assignment to my professor, I was able to eliminate a lot of errors from my work. 

I remember I took a Film Studies class before that where my professor took a whole scene from a movie and broke it down into different segments to really help us understand what a certain character was trying to convey in it with their movements and behavior. The description of the scene did not make much sense to me when my professor was explaining it in words and made much more sense with the video he had put together for the class. 

YouTube ties it up all for me and presents a packet of visual-knowledge in a some-minute video, which is what I love about it. Hence it's been one my top go-to sources when it comes to self-teaching mysef about a certain topic or issue, help for class, or sometimes just procrastinate in a knowledge-gaining way. 

I agree that finding information now its a lot easier than it was when our parents had to learn. I interned at a Marketing company this summer and had to do a lot of design projects. I learned new things about adobe from my co-workers and as well as watching YouTube videos. I have found YouTube to be very effective because I could pause and rewatch the videos to really learn the material. I believe that self-directed learning is very important and it can help people to improve their skills at their own pace. 

I definitely agree with the opinion that we should learn how to do self-directed learning. I personally did that all the time since I don't like to talk too much. I have 2 hybrid classes this semester and one online class, which to be said, I have to learn course materials and do readings on my own a lot. The internet is always my prior means to obtain and explore content that is necessary or extended. Excluding classes, everybody has their hobbies, sports, movies, celebrities, music and so on. Reddit and Quaro are my deep diving places to explore interesting content and comments from others, for instance, I will provide my interests to Quaro and read some new topics from the notification, I can easily filter what I am interested in or not. Besides, from time to time I can find valuable comments or answers from other people. I read, I process and I convert it to myself.

I deferently agree in today's world learning become really convent.And we do a lot of self-learning a lot even we did not notice. We are living a quick change society if we give up learning we cannot live in the society. And in today 's world everyone need to learning to know more knowledge and sharp skills to make ourselves become more competitive in work. I reall do a lot of learning by myself. Such as, Google, Reading online books, ect. Some of them are free and some of them just need to cost a little then you can know new things going on the world. It is a benefit everyone need to take. 

I do have self-directed learning. In fact, I'm doing self-directed learning after I came america. Whatever English or cooking, I have to do learning by myself. I used the App called Baidaozhan in Chinese and help to memory English words. It reminds me to do the missions everyday, like I have to memory 50 words in one day, and then I need to recheck those 50 words and learn 30 new words. And for the cooking, I used the App called Meishi, so I can watch the videos and follow the leads to learn cooking new stuffs. It's much easier than just read the cooking books. I think those educational Apps are really helpful and effective.

Education has changed a lot over time, in most cases, for the best. My generation has had it easy by having information readily availabe to use in the click of a button. There are a couple techniques I use to improve my knowledge and keep my skills sharp. I currently work at an insurance company and work as a trainor/skill leader to my peers. I am always in and out of different training, keeping my skills up-to-date while also learning new knowledge. Self-directed learning helps me maintain my current knowledge and learn new knowledge as I go. Everything is constantly changing, so it's good to learn new skills while also keeping the old ones. I am fortunate enough to train my peers as well, helping them gain new knowledge and hopefully passing it on to others. 

At this stage in life it can be hard to find time to do self-directing learning because most of my time is focused on my normal courses in school. Because of my lack of time I normally find my self-directed learning online via videos or articles. Once I get out into the work place finding different confences to go to will be something I strive for.

WordCamp Ann Arbor sounds pretty cool and I want to start going to more seminars on things that interest me. It's too easy to make an excuse for yourself as to why you didn't make it to something and I think the key is to find something to obsess over. This year I've read over twenty books and I read some authors' blog posts, like Tim Ferriss. Last year I taught myself Google AdWords and this year I got an internship where I learned how to analyze and interpret data from Google Analytics. This sparked my interest in other areas of advertising and marketing, which is what made me get Inbound certified this Summer. Marketing is a topic that you can always improve with and consumer psychology has always fascinated me. My interest in digital advertising is something that inspired me to build my own website and get these certifications. The way the industry is always changing so fast forces me to stay up to date with blog posts and seminars. My goal is to attend more seminars and stop giving myself excuses as to why I can't make them. 

I am sure that I do lots of self-directed learning because I am passionate at learning new knowledge or get to know whatever I may not familiar with before. When I want to learn some specific area, I am able to use Youtube to find related videos and see the instruction like listening to a lecture. The more videos I access, the more new knowledge I can learn. Self-directed learning is the most important thing in human life because knowledge is the base of surviving and knowledge is unlimited. Sometimes, I also download the sports apps to learn how to be healthy. Self-directed learning keeps me to be active. 

I explore self-directed learning every day, even when I'm not thinking about it. While social media may be seen as as bad thing by some, I find that I can learn on social media. By following infuencial people, local news, and indistry news on social meda, I am learning and staying up to date on trends and news, in the midst of my mindless scrolling.  

I also think that self-direct learning can be expereinced by gaining hands-on experience. Instead of reading about something, I'd rather have the chance to actually do it, feel it, experience, and learn from it. I learn best by trail and error than I do from textbook lessons.

Ironically, the past couple years in college has led me to a lot of self-directed learning. I find myself often reading books for enjoyment and sometimes even skipping class to do so. I don't feel like I really gain anything from going to a class and listening to one person talk for hours at a time, in fact, I don't think many people have attention spans that can even handle that type of sustained attention. I have to wonder why higher education relies on huge lectures by one person, could it perhaps be a money maker? I'm not saying I have a better solution, but I think that self directed learning becomes necessary because in all honesty, I don't think it comes from the classroom. It's nice to know how to teach yourself and it's quite the nod to the human brain that we're capable enough to teach ourselves something just a few days before an exam and still do well.

Self directed learning in my opinion is just about finding people who you respect and studying what they did to get into a position of earning your respect. This could be books, movies, music, anything really. I just think it's a great idea to isolate what people did to get where they are and then just apply parts of it (that fit) to your own life.

I am always an active and good leaner. I am able to access the internet to read books on Kindle without any traditional reading ways. On the Kindle, I can read whatever I want and absorb different kinds of knowledge. Also, when I get confused on difficult academic problems, I can search on google or access on Chegg website and find out the solutions. The internet is a good way to learn and also an efficient way to find out more interesting knowledge. 

As for me I think the people do self-directed learning in everyday. when you reading, watching,  listening, all the things is come for the self-directed learning. Like I really like take photo, so I also find some video which can teach people how to use camera, and use photoshop to make picture be beautiful. And I also will be attention one the photographic on some social media. like instergram or Weibo. And study some famous shutterbug how to take picture. I think self decried learning is the improve yourself process. which can make you save money and found what things you like. Also can help you found the easy study way for yourself 

I think the two main sources I consult for self-directed learning are YouTube and blogs. I used YouTube just the other day when I was having trouble using a specific edit tool on Photoshop. I find tutorials on YouTube to be extremely helpful, since I find it easier to watch someone do something than simply read about how to do it. I find blogs to also be helpful when it comes to self-directed learning, especially when it comes to cooking or baking. Most of the recipes and guides I find for meals come from blogs. When I begin to make more money, I'd love to start attending conferences or seminars to widen my skillset. The ones I've found so far can cost anywhere from $200 - $1000, so once I have a steady job, I will hopefully be able to afford to attend.

After I came to the United States, I have kept doing self-directed learning at cooking. I usually watch cooking show or recipes on the Internet. There are lots of videos on YouTube teaching people how to cook, and I have learned a lot from these videos. Basically, you can find the recipe for any kind of food on it, and the method is usually simplified by the sender. Another advantage of YouTube is that I can pause or replay the videos anytime. By repeatedly watching it, I can remember the cooking method in my mind and cook without the recipe. Cooking is a fun thing, but eating not well-cooked dishes is a miserable thing. In the beginning, the dishes I cooked are usually too plain, too salty or even undercooked. However, after uncountable practice, I am able to cook a delicious meal without watching the recipe.

Another self-directed learning experience is about designing. I currently have a part-time job as a graphic design intern. To keep myself creative, I have to see different designers’ works and follow the trend. I like to look for idea on Pinterest. There are endless good-quality and breakthrough works on it, and they always bring me inspiration.

Right now, I am in a place where "trial & error" is my way of self learning. Before reading this blog, I never really thought about self-directed learning but now I am thinking training seminars could be a helpful way of learning. Depending on the complexity of the job, it doesn't take long for me to figure something out once I have the basic directions. Trial and error may not be the most effective way of learning because you can only mess up so many time before it becomes a diaster. I know the best way for me to learn is from hands on experience or making the task relatable to my own personal experiences. 

I do practice self-directed learning. Although I've taken a few years of Spanish, I have difficulty retaining it so each day, I use an app called Duolingo to remind myself and learn new words/phrases. 

I also practice self-directed learning with design. For work, I design digital and print materials for a local brewery. I could easily use a site like Canva for pre-made designs and my employers would be satisfied. However, I want to better my graphic design skills so I invested in Adobe Creative Cloud and create all of my own designs, using YouTube titorials for guidance. After graduation, I'll enroll in some sort of online graphic design class, as well, to keep my skills up to date.

Something I am interested in is international marketing in the advertising field. I find myself very frequently reading books and blog posts about different cultures media marketing and just becoming more familiar with other cultures in general. In the summer of 2016 I joined a program on campus called the American Semester Program. This program has allowed me to do alot of self-directed learning because I am meeting people who can educate me on their cultures and how their media advertising works. This is information that I may not have been able to get from a book, blog or online course. I find it very effective for me because it allows me to be actively learning about international marketing through the people that know best. I am really proud of myself for being a part of the program because it has really made me excel and has strengthened my self-directed learning. 

I've never thought of the concept of self-directed learning, but now after seeing examples it would appear I've been doing just that for some time now. Just recently, beginning at the start of the semsester my roomate and I started reading business and progressive thinking books to gain more knowledge in our ever changing world. We're both close to graduation, and now is the time to gain as much experince and knowldege as we can before we set out into an uncertain world. It's scary to think about life after college but also exciting to know we can build and accomplish limitless things. In our readings we've studied a wide range of topics already, innovation and brainstorming, autobiographical accounts of successful business owners who have shared their stories. Any and eveything we can get our hands on, to allow us to think differently and see things in a new light. After which we discuss and bounce ideas and topics off of each other, it's almost like bookclub wherein we're trying to push each other to be even better.

Also, at least once a month we have signed up for and attended some sort of forward thinking seminar to again push us to grow and step out of our comfort zones. And I would say, for the most part they've been informative. We've been to some explaining amazon selling, some motivational, some to explain business startup practices. More than a few have definitely been pyramid schemes, but at least there's free donuts. All in all the experiences have been postitive, and if they weren't they taught us something valuable. And at least we can say we tried somehthing different, instead of just staying in and watching game of thrones over again. 

Also my father owns his own business, so even from a young age I saw a man who built something from nothing. That being another motivating factor for me to acheive my own success. Learning from his example, I saw perserverance and determination firsthand. The work ethic involded to start from nothing is the drive that's necessary for success. So it'll always be important to keep learning, because we can always be better.

I am very involved in my business fraternity where I do many things through social media.  Before the position, I had no experience with website creation.  I did a lot of browsing the web, reaching out to friends, and simply trial and error.  This is a very small form of self-directed learning.

In the future, I plan to continue and grow my amount of self-directed learning.  After graduation, I will be employed at Expedia.  My role will have a lot to do with market trends.  To understand my role and partners better, I will constantly participate in industry specific seminars.  One very cool experience I had was to study the downtown Chicago hotel market for Lollapalooza.  I am the type of person that wants to know the "what" along with the "why."  This intrinsic motivation will push myself to continue to learn throughout my career.

I believe that I have some experience with self-directed learning when it comes to Sports and learning how they work, from the players playing the game to the owners and General managers that actually run the team. Growing up with a love for sports but never actually playing the game I believe inspired my love for the sports. It's like a kid who wants some candy but the mom says no, the child wants the candy even more now. I've self-taught myself most sports through online research, watching film, and even talking to players who truly understand the game better than an everyday nonathlete would game. Also, My job selection has been a way to teach me the insides of running a sports Franchise. My Experience includes concessions for the Detroit Red Wings, Security for the Detroit Lions, and an usher for the Michigan State Basketball team. I'm learning the business from the base up. These jobs help me understand the customer service aspects of the sports team and understanding the true faces of a sports business(besides the players of course). I'm currently working on getting into the business aspect of a sports team through internships  

I currently do a bit of self-directed learning at my internship. I do all of the digital media/social media marketing for an insurance agent in East Lansing, as well as the basic advertising for him. While he has suggestions and ideas for different ways of marketing, he himself was never taught marketing, as he went to school for animal science, and is now an entrepreneur with his own insurance office. So, since he can't teach me any marketing techniques, I usually have to learn them on my own, and discover what is most effective through trial and error. As an example, my boss wanted me to learn how to do mail marketing lists, so that we could send flyers to wealthier neighborhoods. He brought in someone to show me the basics, but I had to do a lot of hands-on learning, and following an outdated manual in order to finish the task, since I was only shown how to do it one time in person. 

Outside of my internship, however, I've taken online courses, and had to self-direct my learning there. I found that asking your instructor as many questions as you can think of really does help, as they are usually willing to assist with any problems you may have. Along with this, I genuinely feel like trial and error is effective, because you'll learn from your mistake and be forced to try again until your task is accomplished. Plus, you'll be extremely familiar with the task, which will make it easier to complete it again in the future.