Independent learning is essential for students to become successful. When the students set objectives, assess, and monitor their own academic growth, it is known as independent learning. It is vital so that students can handle their own stimulation towards learning. Students who are energetically occupied in determining how and what they learn are generally more encouraged and occupied. This is not surprising as independent learners are immensely concentrated on their personal learning objectives. Independent learning is a method and beliefs of education by which a student obtain knowledge by their own endeavor and grows the capabilities for exploration and analytical assessments.
Nowadays, the student is too dependent on their teachers or parents. Some of the students are not eager to take a risk or don’t want to try something new, or they don’t seem to have good problem-solving skills. So the questions arise that How to help students to be independent learners? Or How to help students to become confident and capable? For today’s generation, the modern educationist suggests the boarding school, as they teach students how to become an independent learner. They also play a vital role in developing the proper personality of students and overall growth. In boarding schools, students learn to manage all the issues of their life in the correct way and become more self-independent.
Students learn flexibility, problem-solving, and other independent skills by appraising in childhood. So, therefore, it is important to teach students to try new things and to take risks. Independent learning increased recognition of strengths, progress, and weakness. It has a higher level of confidence, better management of learning, and more motivation. Along with these benefits, there are many more advantages of motivating independent learning among students.
Independent learning activities require to be properly managed and organized. The independent learning is important because the students inspecting for themselves is at the very basis of learning. Independent learning help students to making revelations from a task the teacher place that they are actually interested in and search exacting, and the feeling they achieve from self-determination, is amazingly enriching for students and an amazing life aid. So, therefore, to make students successful, it is essential to help students to become independent learners.
Here Are The Tips On How To Help Students To Be Independent Learners:
1. Offer Opportunities To Reflect On Learning
To make student’s independent learners, they should be continuously be motivated to reflect on their performance and even if they have met their learning objectives. This will definitely help students to become more independent and aware of their strengths, progress, and the weakness they are making. Acknowledgment of progress will help students to set up motivation and confidence. Opportunities for evaluation and reflection do not require to take much time. Only consuming two to three minutes at the end of the class is enough. Asking the question at the end class will help learners to develop essential analytical skills.
2. Make Learning Objectives Clear
It’s an essential point to help students to be independent learners. Sharing the learning objectives with a class helps students to see what they have focusing on, and they will also be able to assess even if they have gained it subsequently or not. This step can be done at the starting of a class. Even though several educators set the objective themselves if you wish to form an actually independent learning experience so obtain them right from the students.
3. Convey Learning Decisions To Students
If you make all the decisions for students and do not offer a chance to them to make their own decision, so for them, it’s not possible to become an independent learner. It’s essential to offering the chance to students to make decisions about their learning will offer them a prominent level of self-determination. But, this should be a moderate method, and not all students will be ready to take overall control from the starting. The growth of responsibilities establish over time will assist students in becoming more self-independent.
4. Teach Learning And Planning Strategies
Some of the students do not apply independent learning strategies as they do not have good strategies. So teach study skills to them this will help students monitor their work, effectively plan their time, and learn to plan. These all are life skills that are used by independent students. The students love to feel grown-up, so remind them that these skills will assist them in successful adults.
5. Give Feedback On Learning
Giving feedback on learning is also important for students. The feedback teacher also helps students grow the skills and talents required to become more independent. Providing feedback in an encouraging and sensitive way. When the teacher gives feedback to students, so this will encourage and motivate them to do better in all the fields. Effective feedback should permit students to learn efficiently and also understand properly where they are presently learning. So, therefore, this will help students to be independent learners.
6. Focus On The Methods As Well As Goals
Focus on goals is also essential to become an independent learner. Students need to start thinking about how they will get to their aims once they set their goals. The one way to assist students in getting on track is to offer them a set of success criteria, which play a role in a direction for the various tasks they require to complete. If the students understand what they require to do to be successful and independent learners, they will progress much faster and be more encouraged when their goal is too close.
7. Use Questioning Scaffold To Independent Learning
To help students to become independent learners, teachers should have to use questioning. Here the objective is a moderate, steady movement of responsibility from the teacher to the learner. Teachers must grow effective classroom discussions by asking, open-ended questions, and higher-order questions. Due to this, the responding flexibility of the student’s responses to assist thinking, deeper understanding, and problem-solving skills.
Independent learning has many advantages and helps students a lot. It increased motivation and confidence, improved academic performance, and so on. All the above-mentioned points will help the students to be independent learners and to become successful in all the platforms of their life.