Learning at One’s Own Pace  – “Young Bits” – Chapter 6

Self-paced learning means you can learn in your own time and schedule. You don’t need to complete the same assignments or learn at the same time as others. You can proceed from one topic or segment to the next at your speed. Self-paced learning allows students to use materials and resources to customize the way they learn. The self-paced method allows students to design their own learning experience, not only at their own pace, but according to their own interests and learning preferences. The role of the youth worker is to provide guidance, feedback on proficiency and tailor the learning environment to students’ needs.

Self-guided learning is an enormous advantage that youngsters appreciate with the rise of technology in the education industry, since it can provide learners with relevant, mobile, self-paced, and personalized content.

• • Self-paced learning explained – Here you can find information about what self-paced learning is, and what are its advantages and benefits when you apply it in an educational environment. 
  • Getting Started With Self-Paced Learning – Here you will find some guidelines on how you can apply a self-paced learning methodology with your students and what are the important things you need to keep in mind when adopting this learning approach.
  • How to Create a Self-Paced Classroom provides more in-depth information about how you can move from group instruction strategy to customise self-paced learning methodology. 
  • How to Use Self-paced Learning Effectively – this article provides information on how you can create effective units that leverage the best practice of self-paced learning in both content creation and assessment.
  • Tools for Self-Paced Learning – On this link, you will find a list of 15 online platforms and applications that can support the youth’s self-paced learning process, according to their needs and interests.
  • Open Education – Here you will find a list of various free resources available to learners (articles written by individuals, micro-learning courses from experts, or archives made available by prestigious colleges etc.) that can support youngsters in designing their own learning experience, according to their own interests and learning preferences.

In the video below you will find an example of the application of safe-paced learning to a demanding classroom environment involving youngsters with disabilities and an insight into how transformative the move has been.

© ISTE    

The content for this post is part of our online campaign called “Young Bits” which aims to increase the quality of Digital Youth Work by providing the interested parties with knowledge and tools that exist on the internet, but are not structured in a handy manner. The campaign represents the main result of the project „DIgital Technology as a TOol”, a training course that was financed with the support of the European Commission through Erasmus+ Programme. This blog reflects only the author’s views, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.