BFTP: Encouraging autodidacts
Saturday, October 3, 2020 at 03:26AM 
I ran across this wonderful word in a reading not long ago. To tell the truth, I had to look up its meaning since I don't see the term often enough to have its definition firmly implanted in my weak brain.
Learning the definition made me think I about my left thumb.
Its nail is nearly grown out after whacking it with a hammer pretty good a couple months ago. I was trying to loosen a firmly stuck faucet cartridge that needed replacement in my bathtub. Using YouTube as my guide, I pretty much knew what I was doing with the plumbing. Well, except for the pounding my thumb bit.
YouTube has become my go-to teacher for a lot of stuff - hanging blinds, figuring out water filter cartridges in my fridge, eliminating garage door squeaks, and other small repair stuff. No class or classroom. No F2F human teacher. Project-based learning and competency-based assessment. All good.
Autodidactic learning is not just for the person too cheap to hire a repair person. I've needed to learn, of course, for my job over the years - computer programs, educational theories, new technologies, project management techniques, management skills, teaching strategies, etc. Few competencies came as a result of traditional classes.
The true autodidact is intrinsically motivated. Self-assessing. Needs driven. What I would consider qualities of the ideal employee (or entrepreneur).
Our students are entering a workforce in which one will be increasingly expected to be self-taught. I hope we are encouraging, not discouraging autodidacticism in our classrooms.
