"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself."
Galileo Galilei
Although no one disputes the contribution of teachers and fellow learners, formal learning has been possible by learners working independently since Sir Isaac Pittman began teaching shorthand by postal correspondance in 1840.
Independent learners have long been ignored by classroom instructors and professors who prefer to believe that they are necessary for learning.
Independent learners have been spurned by institutions that want to apply cost-effective batch-manufacturing techniques to education.
Learning indepedence may be in the nature of a person or it may result from special needs, such as achieving certification ny a certain date while not being able to take time off from tavel and other job duties to learn with cohorts.
Though truly indepedente learners will probably never be a majority, they are a crucial segment of learners.
And independent learners, because they learn for their own reasons, are more likely to apply what they learn.
Independent learning presages the era of consumer control of e-learning.
Until now, most of the decisions about the form and content of e-learning were made by those who knew best, that is, the producers of e-learning.
That was appropriate. Only the producers knew waht the technlogy could do.
Independent learners will revolutionize e-learning.
They will provide of tools and learning content with complete, detailed specifications of what they want.
They will report a million bugs and make a billion informed suggestions.
Economics will be guided by what people want and are willing to pay for rather than what someone convinced a venture capitalist would sell.
Independent learners must be able to spontaneously create and engage in learning events.
Independent learners crave valid assesments that are independent of how learning was accomplished.
Educational institutions and professional organizations can assist independent learners by helping them document their learning and obtain credentials attesting to their knowledge and skills.
