THE IMPORTANCE OF INDEPENDENT LEARNING

THE IMPORTANCE OF INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Irodakhon Mirzayeva Khamdamovna

ANNOTATION: This aim of this article is to indentify reliable and relevant research to provide a detailed picture of independent learning and it's possible impact on students. Furthermore, article shows independent learning does not merely involve student working alone, in contrast teachers can play in supporting students' independent learning.

Key words:  self-regulated learning, time-management, responsibility, internal and external factors, academic performance, self-motivation, cognitive skills, metacognitive skills, affective skills and self-monitoring.

"Independent learning" is often linked with other approaches  to learning such as " personalization","student-centred learning and "ownership" of learning, Discussion of independent learning frequently arises in the context of important issues such as student- teacher roles and relationships and the role of information and communications technology in learning. It is suggested that successful independent learning  depends on a number of external and internal factors. External factors involve the creation of a strong relationship between teachers and students and the establishment of an "enabling environment" in which ICT can be important element. Internal factors are the skills that individual students have to acquire. These include cognitive skills such as focusing of memory and attention and problem-solving, metacognitive skills associated with am understanding of how learning occurs, and affective skills related to feelings and emotions.

There is a wide range of advantages of independent learning including:

 • improved academic performance;

 • increased motivation  and confidence;

 • enabling teachers to provide differentiated tasks for students;

 • greater students awareness of their limitations and their ability to manage them;

 • fostering social inclusion by countering alienation.

Supporting students in self-regulation, providing feedback and helping them highlight progress is found to be especially important among the remedial readers and other students with special educational needs.

Using independent learning approaches enabled teachers to organise a wide range of activities in their classroom to focus more on teaching and learning than an organization or behavior. For example, it provides teachers to work with specific groups while other groups  work independently.

Studies suggest that students who are independent learners work to higher standards, are more motivated and have higher self-esteem and other children. The students develop skills that help them further their own learning by using their own ideas, solving problems and using a range of strategies in their learning. The key ingredient in independent learning is the shift of responsibility for their learning process from the teacher to the student. This involved students acquiring an understanding of their learning, being motivated to learn and collaborating with teachers to structure their learning environment. Also, independent learning does not involve students working alone; teachers have a key part of in enabling and supporting self- studying though, for example, structuring group work.

Whilst offering several models for self-learning the review authors conceptualised independent learning in terms of process of self-regulation. These are organised around four or more phases for students to complete including: planning, self-monitoring, controlling the pace and direction of the work and evaluation. Evaluation includes students' feelings of pleasure or otherwise. Self-learning motivation is also identified as necessary for successful independent learning. An essential element of independent learning is positive relationships between teachers and students , based on trust. A mutual responsibility for learning , which drew in students' experiences in their family and local community is, also, necessary.

Some skills that students need to acquire in order to engage successfully in independent learning:

 • Cognitive skills include some of the brain functions such as thinking, reading, learning, retaining information, playing attention and uses to solve problems, remember tasks and make decisions . All this affects the quality of our learning and performance.

 • Metacognitive skills allow the students to organize and and evaluate their thought process related to learning and problem-solving. Also, metacognitive skills is your self awareness about what you know or retain knowledge regarding a particular subject.

 • Affective skills is concerned with how learners feel while they are learning, as well as with how learning experiences are internalized so they can guide the learner's attitudes, opinions and behavior in the future.

In conclusion, as can be seen,  self-learning us important in students' lives especially while attending higher education as it will put things in perspective for the student and helps to set objectives towards improvements that need to made. The idea of independent learning should be encouraged more in schoolsasit could potentially save teacher's time as well as give students flexible and more time to catch up on other work activities. In contrast, independent learning should not necessarily  be seen as student just working his or her own at all times. In successful independent learning, the part of teacher shifts  from an experts transmitting knowledge to that of "coach" helping students to acquire necessary  strategies for learning. And a key activity is educators helping learners to create their own representations of setting  goals.

                                                References

1. David Scott. "Education for innovation and independent learning", London 2014

2. Virgina Smith Harvey. " Practical strategies to promote students success" Washington, 2007

3. Star Cline , " The guid to creative  independent study". Moskow  1987