In the Virutal Campus for Public Health (VCPH), self-learning courses are those in which the way to learn is mainly by yourself. Learning materials and resources are provided, the individual search for other sources of information is promoted and self-evaluation tools are included to assess knowledge. In some of these courses, self-enrollment is necessary to obtain an online certificate.
"Self-directed learning" involves the process of learning done by the individual search of infomation or by individually conducting and implementing practices or experiments. Some people prefer the terms "autodidacticism", ""autodidactism", self-learning" or "self-instructon". In the Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH), these concepts are used without distinction.
According to Malcolm Knowles (1975), self-directed learning describes a process "in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes."
Many authors indicate that individual traits such as self-esteem, creativity, self-discipline, curiosity and the ability to face adversity are necessary to be succesful in self-directed learning. These adults assume the responsability for their own learning, including intrinsic factors such as responsability and proactivity.
Feel free to explore the following Self-Learning Courses: