As a parent, you will feel proud to see your children getting straight As in school, you will also feel confident in their abilities when you see them solving complicated mathematic equations, but when it's time to go to college, you might find yourself shocked to find that your children are unable to pass certain subjects or courses simply because they don't know how to study. Doing your homework after taking detailed information on how to do it from teachers hardly counts as studying, according to the new trend in education. Luckily, this new trend provides a useful tool called independent learning, which can spare parents such a disappointment, converting students into life long learners and enhancing their study abilities. In a Canadian study published in 1986, independent learning, or IDL, was defined as that learning in which the learner, in conjunction with relevant others, can make the decisions necessary to meet the learner's own learning needs. Dr. Abdulmunim Al-Hayani, the Vice Dean for Quality and Development in KAU's Medical Faculty, talked about this learning strategy that is considered a main technique in modern, student-based education. Al-Hayani is one of the new trend educators that devote their time to help in the development and revival of educational systems in the Kingdom through the implementations of revolutionary methods that proved their worth in many countries, told us more about this promising strategy. “Science is expanding,” says Dr. Al-Hayani. “The right approach to contain this constant increase is not an increasing amount of info in curriculums, instead we should entrust students with the task of teaching themselves,” he says. Dr. Al-Hayani had noticed while he was teaching in the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, that the gap in knowledge between what is taught here and what is taught there is huge, but not as huge as the difference in teaching techniques. “Curriculums in the Kingdom began where others stopped ages ago. Until now, independent learning had been a complete stranger to our schools and universities,” says Dr. Al-Hayani. But things are different now, since the whole concept of learning is changing from being curriculum based to student based, yet this change comes late, since that damage had already been done. Dr. Hayani explains that the complete neglect of independent learning resulted in a defect that affected student character as well as learning. “Here in the Kingdom we notice that most students lack maturity and responsibility, being unable to make critical decision in addition to being undependable when it comes to entrusting them with learning on their own”, adds Dr. Hayani. Better learning isn't the only thing this new technique promises, according to Dr. Hayani who continues saying “IDL isn't only an educational need in the Kingdom, its also a social need since it is capable of reshaping student personalities and making them more independent and mature”. In order for this system to be implemented effectively, students must be acquainted to certain skills that they will need in learning. Dr. Hayani adds that these skills are now taught in several colleges in the kingdom within introductory courses that are called study skills or concepts of learning courses, yet the most important factor in determining whether or not the system is to achieve its goals is the students themselves. “Students must be convinced that independent learning is for their own good, they must also realize the importance of learning how to learn, otherwise the system will surely fail” Dr. Al-Hayani adds. However, educators seem to believe that it's still early to entrust students with the entire process of learning, this concern generated the idea of study guides, which are the primary means of guidance and control in independent learning. “Study guides, are management tools that usher students through the process of learning” says Dr. Al-Hayani, adding that “a good study guide is like a well written, comprehensive travel guide, both put you on the right track”. As for using IDL with children, Dr. Al-Hayani says that it can give even better results with children since they are very flexible when it comes to learning. “Instead of giving our kids quick answers, we should direct them to a source that they can look for their own answers in” concludes Dr. Al-Hayani. __
