7 Golden Rules for Self-Education in the Internet Age

You're reading 7 Golden Rules for Self-Education in the Internet Age, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

-Benjamin Franklin

The concept of education and learning has witnessed a paradigm shift since the internet came into the picture. Today, knowledge is no longer confined into the four walls of a classroom and can be gained or imparted from anywhere in the world. Now, as the wave of transformation is washing over the sphere of education, more and more learners are opting for the self-directed education process. At a time when knowledge is literally concentrated within the palms of our hands, let’s explore some useful insights on pursuing self-education and learn the tips to study smarter.

1. Learn to control what’s beyond you

It isn’t unusual for students to cower under pressure while dealing with an apparently intricate concept. This inevitably gives rise to anxiety and skepticism in the student’s mind while he/she is trying out the self-education method. According to the eminent academicians, approaching a difficult subject or assignment will almost always be overwhelming, and trying to get over this jitter will ultimately offer a great sense of satisfaction. Moreover, it’s important that you put your brain through some sort of rigor, and these difficult subjects and lessons will provide just the opportunity.

2. Utilize different mediums to learn valuable lessons

You can read insightful books, articles, and journals, join different online educational forums, attend seminars, and watch various documentaries. You should explore the different mediums and you can stick to one that inspires you the most. However, try not to restrict yourself to only a single source of knowledge, and make sure to evaluate and use the information in every form.

3. Fixating over multitasking isn’t going to cut it

While it may be empowering and exhilarating to take charge of the learning process on your own, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to resort to multitasking. In fact, learning and multitasking cannot happen simultaneously. The beginners in the process of self-directed learning often tend to glorify the phenomenon of multitasking. This could be because they are apprehensive about committing to a single objective. So, if you are new to the self-directed education process, you need to remember that you have plenty of time to learn. You should focus on one topic at a time and proceed to another learning objective once the previous goal has been achieved.

4. Look for promising online courses

Many notable institutions are offering online learning opportunities, which are available at a nominal cost (or in many cases absolutely free). So, you can check out the online learning courses provided by websites like Myassignmenthelp, edX, Coursera, Udemy or Hubspot. If you don’t want to follow the set patterns of self-directed learning, you can definitely try unexpected sources of learning. There are a host of online destinations that are increasingly effective in imparting the knowledge you require. Once you explore the options, you are sure to be spoilt for choice.

5. Clearly determine your objectives

When you are approaching the self-directed learning method, it’s imperative that you stay committed to the process. This also means that you need to set specific goals that don't sound like the New Year resolutions. Whatever the objective you are trying to achieve, you need to be focused and give yourself a strict deadline to accomplish it. This way you’ll have a parameter to judge your success and failure. Other than that, there’s a mental shift, which becomes evident when you define the objective you’re working on. It’s almost like raising a child and it also develops a sense of commitment within you.

6. Every information you come across will not be authentic

Even when you think you have gathered the most credible sources to study from, you should not approach the learning materials with a feeling that it must be 100% genuine. When you go through different learning materials, you’ll notice that some of those are contradictory to the things you are already aware of. So, you need to be careful while researching the learning materials.

7. Always follow up on the references

While reading about serious issues and topics, you’ll come across references from scientific articles, books, statistical sources, and other kinds of publications that the authors mention. If you go through those resources, you’ll open up to a whole new dimension of the topic that you’re reading. Parting note, The human mind is capable of accomplishing the impossible, but it’s rarely utilized to its fullest potential. Self-directed education process serves as a great workout for the mind. While the traditional classroom setup is still quite prevalent, the self-learning system will definitely be useful to improve the process of education even further.

You've read 7 Golden Rules for Self-Education in the Internet Age, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you've enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

by alicedavison via Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement