Self-Directed Learning — A Real Skills Perspective
Being resourceful is key to learning in tertiary education and becomes part of training in the workplace.
By Juwin Lee
The transition from secondary education to tertiary learning is made significantly easier by realising the importance of self-directed, active learning. While learning is more passive in high school, students who take charge of their studies are likely to see accelerated learning. A member of the Real Skills team has agreed to share how they have driven their own learning and why they find learning important.
Self-Introduction
“My name is Justis and I’m currently a fourth year civil engineering and architecture student. Alongside my studies in engineering, I have more recently aspired to pursue more creative avenues such as web and UX design as well as social media marketing.”
About the STEM Leaders Program
“I completed the STEM Leaders Program back in the winter of 2018. Afterwards, I was involved in the facilitation of some of the succeeding STEM Leaders Programs as well as the Engineering Power Up Program.”
“The most important thing I have learnt from participating in the STEM Leaders Program and facilitating other Real Skills (RSE) programs is to never stop learning. During my time studying engineering in university, I wasn’t particularly aware of what was happening in the industry and what steps I needed to take in order to pursue the career I wanted. After attending the professional workshops and working on an industry project, I realised that there was a lot I didn’t know and that I was hugely unprepared.”
Joining the Team at Real Skills
“One of the most memorable opportunities I took was the marketing manager role without having any knowledge of marketing or leadership experience prior. It was quite daunting at the time, but it put me under immense pressure to perform well since the role came with huge responsibilities. This pressure was what accelerated my learning process and marketing became something that I found very surprisingly enjoyable.”
“Amongst all that, I was also able to build a portfolio for design and photography. From the accumulation of all these experiences, I have now had the pleasure to work and contribute more in that industry, sparking my aspirations to follow on this career path. A project that allowed me to explore my design strengths was web design for the Real Skills website”
“One of the challenging parts of web design for me was figuring out how to utilise my design skills to create something that would facilitate an effective call-to-action and user experience. To overcome this, I referenced and analysed a lot of other websites to try to understand what made them so effective. I would implement these elements that I learnt into the initial wireframing and drafting of the website and hold meetings to gather different opinions and feedback.”
“Since I had no technical experience with web design tools prior, it was very difficult to judge which design elements in my draft could be possibly implemented. To avoid a possible obstacle in my design process, I chose to draft very simple designs that could later be modified. I chose Wordpress to create the website on, and I was able to learn the software and publish 3 presentable webpages in the span of 2 days. Now I plan to go back to refining my web design processes and leverage the availability of online courses to learn more in depth concepts and practices about User Experience.”
What did Justis learn?
“The important takeaway from my experience in the program was that I should look to be more proactive to take up opportunities to learn and develop myself. Although a lot of the things I learnt in the program didn’t have an immediate impact on my development, it provided me a great foundation to propel myself off. I became more comfortable working on projects and more confident in my presentation skills which encouraged me to further refine my skills in those areas. More frequently than ever, I was motivated to leverage the various readily available resources online to learn more about the things I was interested in.”
“The result was that I became better qualified when applying for certain roles and I was able to contribute a lot more in the work that I was involved in. This also applied to some project-based university courses that I enrolled in. Due to prior experiences in some previous managing roles, I was able to provide some substantial guidance in the projects. Since helping people is something that I love to do, such things gave me a great sense of accomplishment. Overall, since participating in my first RSE program, it has taken me on a journey where I have been fortunate enough to shape my career around something that I love to do.”
What you can take away from Justis’ journey?
Justis has chosen to explore fields beyond his immediate studies in university and has not only picked up new interests but also gained experiences that will guide his future endeavours. Experiences such as practicing website design, and leadership in a manager role allowed him to demonstrate his passion for learning and willingness to explore unfamiliar territory.
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