Unit+Five+-+Self-Directed+Learning

As seniors in high school, you are about to graduate into a world in which YOU will have to manage your lives and your learning more than ever before. In order to prepare for this significant transition, we are going to engage in a unique learning experience.

__**Step One: Making the Paradigm Shift from Student to Learner**__


 * //Are you a student or a learner? What's the difference? What skills are necessary to be a self-directed learner?//**


 * Malcolm Knowles ** (1975) described Self-Directed Learning (SDL) broadly as **“a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, to diagnose their learning needs, formulate learning goals, identify resources for learning, select and implement learning strategies, and evaluate learning outcomes”**

Take this questionnaire (hard copy handed out in class) to determine areas of strength and weakness when it comes to five skill areas: Awareness, Learning Strategies, Learning Activities, Evaluation, and Interpersonal Skills.

After you score your questionnaire, for entry #1 in your Process Journal (shared in your Google Drive), go below to read interpretations of your scores, and then answer the questions below in your process journal. This journal entry should be called: Learning Assessment


 * Step Two: Topic Selection:**

For this unit, you get to decide your area of focus. What are you truly curious about? What questions do you want to pursue answers to? What is an area of interest that you have not explored in as much depth as you would like? Be sure that this is a topic that you want to devote yourself to over the next few weeks.

You will become a specialist on your topic by researching it thoroughly, creating a personal learning network where you connect with experts in the field, sharing your learning process in an online journal, and, finally, presenting the culminating product of your learning to an audience in the form a CFA-style TED Talk.

Ready to get started? Click on the link above for help with selecting a topic.

Step Three: Start Exploring your Topic:

Now that you have a question selected, it is time to start learning more about your area of interest. But where do we start? And how do we manage the information that we gather?

Click the link above to get to a few search engines that will help you filter your searches.