View source for Autodidacticism

{{Short description|Independent education without the guidance of teachers}}
{{distinguish|Student-directed teaching}}
{{Redirect-multi|1|Self-taught|the book|Self-Taught{{!}}''Self-Taught''|the Lissy Trullie album|Self-Taught Learner{{!}}''Self-Taught Learner''}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}

'''Autodidacticism''' (also '''autodidactism''') or '''self-education''' (also '''self-learning''', '''self-study''' and '''self-teaching''') is the [[Practice (learning method)|practice of education]] without the guidance of [[teacher]]s. '''Autodidacts'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> are self-taught<ref>{{cite dictionary
| url = https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autodidact
| title = autodidact
| date = 2024
| dictionary = Merriam-Webster Dictionary
| quote = a self-taught person
}}</ref> people who learn a [[Curriculum studies|subject]] through self-study.<ref>{{cite dictionary
| url = https://www.dictionary.com/browse/autodidact
| title = autodidact
| date = 2024
| dictionary = Dictionary.com
| quote = a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person.}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary
| url = https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/autodidact
| title = Autodidact
| date = 2024
| dictionary = Cambridge Dictionary
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| quote = a person who teaches himself or herself, rather than being taught by a teacher}}</ref> Process may involve, complement, or be an alternative to [[formal education]]. Formal education itself may have a [[hidden curriculum]] that requires self-study for the uninitiated.

Generally, autodidacts are individuals who choose the subject they will study, their studying material, and the studying rhythm and time. Autodidacts may or may not have formal education, and their study may be either a complement or an alternative to formal education. [[List of autodidacts|Many notable contributions]] have been made by autodidacts.

The self-learning [[curriculum]] is infinite. One may seek out [[alternative pathways in education]] and use these to gain [[Competency-based learning|competency]]; self-study may meet some prerequisite-curricula criteria for [[experiential education]] or [[apprenticeship]].

Self-education<ref>{{cite dictionary
| url = https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/self-educated
| title = self-educated
| date = 2024
| dictionary = Cambridge Dictionary
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| access-date = 10 April 2024
| quote = A self-educated person has obtained knowledge or skills by themselves rather than being taught by other people}}</ref> techniques can include reading educational books or websites,<ref>{{cite dictionary
| url = https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/self%E2%80%93educated
| title = self-educated
| date = 2024
| dictionary = The Britannica Dictionary
| access-date = 10 April 2024
| quote = educated by your own efforts (such as by reading books) rather than in a school}}</ref> watching educational videos and listening to educational audio recordings, or by visiting [[infoshop]]s. One uses some space as a [[learning space]], where one uses [[critical thinking]] to develop [[study skills]] within the broader [[learning environment]] until they've reached an academic [[comfort zone]].

== Terminology<!--'Heutagogy' redirects here--> ==
The term ''autodidact'' has its roots in the [[Ancient Greek]] words {{lang|grc|[[wikt:αὐτός|αὐτός]]}} ({{Transliteration|grc|autós}}, {{Literal translation|self|lk=on}}) and {{lang|grc|[[wikt:διδακτικός|διδακτικός]]}} ({{Transliteration|grc|didaktikos}}, {{Literal translation|teaching}}). The related term ''[[didacticism]]'' defines an artistic [[philosophy of education]].

Various terms are used to describe self-education. One such is '''''heutagogy'''''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->, coined in 2000 by Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon of [[Southern Cross University]] in Australia; others are '''''self-directed learning''''' and '''''self-determined learning'''''. In the heutagogy paradigm, a learner should be at the centre of their own learning.<ref name= ChapnickMeloy>{{cite book|title=Renaissance elearning: creating dramatic and unconventional learning experiences|series=Essential resources for training and HR professionals|author1=Samantha Chapnick  |author2=Jimm Meloy |name-list-style=amp|publisher=[[John Wiley and Sons]]|date=2005|isbn=9780787971472|pages=36&ndash;37|chapter=From Andragogy to Heutagogy}}</ref> A truly self-determined learning approach also sees the heutagogic learner exploring different approaches to knowledge in order to learn; there is an element of experimentation underpinned by a personal curiosity.<ref>Hase Stewart and Chris Kenyon. ''Self-Determined Learning : Heutagogy in Action''. Bloomsbury Academic 2015.</ref>

''Andragogy'' "strive[s] for autonomy and self-direction in learning", while ''Heutagogy'' "identif[ies] the potential to learn from novel experiences as a matter of course [...] manage their own learning".<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://www.uis.edu/colrs/teaching-resources/foundations-good-teaching/pedagogy-andragogy-heutagogy
| title = Pedagogy, Andragogy, & Heutagogy
| last = 
| first = 
| date = 
| website = Center for Online Learning, Research and Service
| publisher = University of Illinois Springfield
| access-date = 10 April 2024}}</ref> ''Ubuntugogy'' is a type of [[cosmopolitanism]] that has a [[Collectivism|collectivist]] ethics of [[awareness]] concerning the [[African diaspora]].<ref>{{cite journal
| last1 = Bangura
| first1 = A. K.
| date = 2005
| title = Ubuntugogy: An African Educational Paradigm That Transcends Pedagogy, Andragogy, Ergonagy And Heutagogy
| url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/45198556
| journal = Journal of Third World Studies
| volume = 22
| issue = 2
| pages = 13–53
| jstor = 45198556
| access-date = 10 April 2024
|quote = [T]he essence of ubuntugogy is that it is imperative and urgent for African educators to be concerned about broader education as well as training and to be concerned about approaches to learning and teaching which are undergirded by humanity or fellow feeling toward others.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| last1 = van der Walt
| first1 = J. L.
| date = 2010
| title = 'Ubuntugogy' for the 21st Century
| url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/45194719
| journal = Journal of Third World Studies
| volume = 27
| issue = 2
| pages = 249–266
| jstor = 45194719
| access-date = 11 April 2024
| quote = Ubuntu rejects this modernistic and atomistic individualism since it overemphasizes the seemingly solitary aspects of human existence at the expense of the communal aspects and interests. It also rejects Western-style collectivism which views society as a collection of separately existing and detached individuals or small groups. Ubuntu views the individual in terms of his or her relationship with others; individuals only exist only in and through their relationships and bonds with others.}}</ref>

== Modern era ==
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Autodidacticism is sometimes a complement of modern formal education.<ref>"University lecturers do not guide their students' learning to the same extent; they do not organise their students' private study (no more set homework!); nor do they filter knowledge for you in the same way. There are two reasons for this. The first reason is that you are expected to be independent, capable of organising your life, your time, your studies and your learning, so that when you graduate you are able to function successfully in your chosen profession". Extract from: ''The student's guide to learning at university'', by Geoffrey Cooper, published in 2003 Australia by TheHumanities.com, {{ISBN|1-86335-510-3}}</ref> As a complement to formal education, students would be encouraged to do more independent work.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/files/?whdmsaction=public:main.file&fileID=3459 |title=Natural Learning in Higher Education |author=J. Scott Armstrong |journal=Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning |year=2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028075300/https://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/files/?whdmsaction=public%3Amain.file&fileID=3459 |archive-date=28 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Before the twentieth century, only a small minority of people received an advanced academic education. As stated by [[Joseph Whitworth]] in his influential report on industry and innovators dated from 1853, literacy rates were higher in the [[United States]] than in [[England]].{{Ambiguous|date=September 2024|reason=See talk page for the source I checked, which was to no avail.}} However, even in the U.S., most children were not completing [[high school]]. High school education was necessary to become a teacher. In modern times, a larger percentage of those completing high school also attended college, usually to pursue a professional degree, such as law or medicine, or a divinity degree.<ref name="Thomson 2009"/>

Collegiate teaching was based on the classics (Latin, philosophy, ancient history, theology) until the early nineteenth century. There were few if any institutions of higher learning offering studies in engineering or science before 1800. Institutions such as the [[Royal Society]] did much to promote scientific learning, including public lectures. In England, there were also itinerant lecturers offering their service, typically for a fee.<ref name="Robinson and Musson">{{cite book
| title = Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution
| url = https://archive.org/details/sciencetechnolog00aemu
| url-access = registration
| last = Musson 
| author2 = Robinson
| year = 1969 
| publisher = University of Toronto Press
| isbn = 9780802016379
}}</ref>

Prior to the nineteenth century, there were many important inventors working as millwrights or mechanics who, typically, had received an elementary education and served an apprenticeship.<ref name="Thomson 2009">{{cite book
| title      = Structures of Change in the Mechanical Age: Technological Invention in the United States 1790–1865
| last       = Thomson
| first      = Ross
| year       = 2009
| publisher  = [[The Johns Hopkins University Press]]
| location   = Baltimore, MD
| isbn       = 978-0-8018-9141-0
| url-access = registration
| url        = https://archive.org/details/structuresofchan0000thom
}}</ref> Mechanics, instrument makers and surveyors had various mathematics training. [[James Watt]] was a surveyor and instrument maker and is described as being "largely self-educated".<ref>{{cite book
| title      = Partners in Science: Letters of James Watt and Joseph Black
| last1      = Robinson
| first1     = Eric
| last2      = McKie
| first2     = Doublas
| location   = Cambridge, Massachusetts
| page       = 4
}}</ref> Watt, like some other autodidacts of the time, became a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] and a member of the [[Lunar Society]]. In the eighteenth century these societies often gave public lectures and were instrumental in teaching chemistry and other sciences with industrial applications which were neglected by traditional universities. Academies also arose to provide scientific and technical training.

Years of schooling in the United States began to increase sharply in the early twentieth century. This phenomenon was seemingly related to increasing mechanization displacing [[child labor]]. The automated glass bottle-making machine is said to have done more for education than child labor laws because boys were no longer needed to assist.<ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = ABC-CLIO
| isbn = 978-0-313-39862-9
| last = Jr
| first = Quentin R. Skrabec
| title = The 100 Most Significant Events in American Business: An Encyclopedia
| date = 4 May 2012
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IBYJbFS52f0C&pg=PA128
| access-date = 4 February 2013
| archive-date = 30 March 2017
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170330211407/https://books.google.com/books?id=IBYJbFS52f0C&pg=PA128
| url-status = live
}}</ref> However, the number of boys employed in this particular industry was not that large; it was mechanization in several sectors of industry that displaced child labor toward education. For males in the U.S. born 1886–90, years of school averaged 7.86, while for those born in 1926–30, years of school averaged 11.46.<ref>[http://129.3.20.41/eps/mac/papers/0502/0502021.pdf Two Centuries of American Macroeconomic Growth From Exploration of Resource Abundance to Knowledge Driven Development, pp 44] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723192618/http://129.3.20.41/eps/mac/papers/0502/0502021.pdf |date=23 July 2012 }}</ref>

One of the most recent trends in education is that the classroom environment should cater towards students' individual needs, goals, and interests. This model adopts the idea of [[inquiry-based learning]] where students are presented with scenarios to identify their own research, questions and knowledge regarding the area. As a form of [[discovery learning]], students in today's classrooms are being provided with more opportunity to "experience and interact" with knowledge, which has its roots in autodidacticism.

Successful self-teaching can require self-discipline and reflective capability. Some research suggests that the ability to regulate one's own learning may need to be modeled to some students so that they become active learners, while others learn dynamically via a process outside conscious control.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Iran-Nejad|first=Asghar|author2=Brad Chissom|title=Contributions of Active and Dynamic Self-Regulation to Learning|journal=Innovative Higher Education|year=1992|volume=17|issue=2|page=125|doi=10.1007/bf00917134|s2cid=143153340}}</ref> To interact with the environment, a framework has been identified to determine the components of any learning system: a reward function, incremental action value functions and action selection methods.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Arentze|first=Theo|author2=Harry Timmermans|title=Modeling learning and adaptation processes in activity-travel choice: A framework and numerical experiment|journal=Transportation|year=2003|volume=30|issue=1 |page=37|doi=10.1023/A:1021290725727|s2cid=142721970|url=https://research.tue.nl/nl/publications/modeling-learning-and-adaptation-processes-in-activitytravel-choice-a-framework-and-numerical-experiments(b7207ff1-83b9-44b7-8f58-d4cf15da6cf9).html|access-date=25 October 2020|archive-date=14 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814081926/https://research.tue.nl/nl/publications/modeling-learning-and-adaptation-processes-in-activity-travel-cho|url-status=live}}</ref> Rewards work best in motivating learning when they are specifically chosen on an individual student basis. New knowledge must be incorporated into previously existing information as its value is to be assessed. Ultimately, these [[instructional scaffolding|scaffolding]] techniques, as described by [[Vygotsky]] (1978) and problem solving methods are a result of dynamic decision making.

In his book ''[[Deschooling Society]]'', philosopher [[Ivan Illich]] strongly criticized 20th-century educational culture and the institutionalization of knowledge and learning - arguing that institutional schooling as such is an irretrievably flawed model of education - advocating instead ad-hoc co-operative networks through which autodidacts could find others interested in teaching themselves a given skill or about a given topic, supporting one another by pooling resources, materials, and knowledge.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Illich |first1=Ivan |title=Deschooling Society |year=1995 |orig-year=1971 |publisher=Marion Boyars Publishers |location=London}}</ref>

Secular and modern societies have given foundations for new systems of education and new kinds of autodidacts. As [[Internet]] access has become more widespread the [[World Wide Web]] (explored using search engines such as [[Google Search|Google]]) in general, and websites such as [[Wikipedia]] (including parts of it that were included in a [[book]] or referenced in a reading list), [[YouTube]], [[Udemy]], [[Udacity]] and [[Khan Academy]] in particular, have developed as learning centers for many people to actively and freely learn together. Organizations like The Alliance for Self-Directed Education (ASDE) have been formed to publicize and provide guidance for self-directed education.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About the Alliance|url=https://www.self-directed.org/about/|access-date=2021-04-27|website=Alliance for Self-Directed Education|language=en-US|archive-date=27 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427025234/https://www.self-directed.org/about/|url-status=live}}</ref> Entrepreneurs like Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates are considered influential self-teachers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Berger |first=Rod |title=The Rise Of The Autodidactic Millennial As Today's Entrepreneur |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/rodberger/2022/12/30/the-rise-of-the-autodidactic-millennial-as-todays-entrepreneur/ |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|Education during the slave period in the United States|Anti-literacy laws in the United States}}
{{Self sidebar}}

<!-- See [[MOS:CULTURALREFS]] (and [[WP:TRIVIA]] in general) before adding to this section. -->
The first philosophical claim supporting an autodidactic program to the study of nature and God was in the [[philosophical novel]] ''[[Hayy ibn Yaqdhan]]'' (Alive son of the Vigilant), whose titular hero is considered the archetypal autodidact.<ref name="ben-zaken">{{Cite book
| publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press
| isbn = 978-0-8018-9739-9
| last = Ben-Zaken
| first = Avner
| title = Reading Ḥayy Ibn-Yaqẓan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism
| location = Baltimore
| year = 2010
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=17g6pHkql5oC&pg=PP1
| access-date = 25 October 2020
| archive-date = 14 August 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210814081924/https://books.google.com/books?id=17g6pHkql5oC&pg=PP1
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The story is a medieval autodidactic utopia, a philosophical treatise in a literary form, which was written by the Andalusian philosopher [[Ibn Tufail]] in the 1160s in [[Marrakesh]]. It is a story about a feral boy, an autodidact prodigy who masters nature through instruments and reason, discovers laws of nature by practical exploration and experiments, and gains ''[[summum bonum]]'' through a mystical mediation and communion with God. The hero rises from his initial state of ''[[tabula rasa]]'' to a mystical or direct experience of God after passing through the necessary natural experiences. The focal point of the story is that human reason, unaided by society and its conventions or by religion, can achieve scientific knowledge, preparing the way to the mystical or highest form of human knowledge.

Commonly translated as "The Self-Taught Philosopher" or "The Improvement of Human Reason", Ibn-Tufayl's story ''Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan'' inspired debates about autodidacticism in a range of historical fields from classical Islamic philosophy through Renaissance humanism and the European Enlightenment. In his book ''Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: a Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism,'' [[Avner Ben-Zaken]] showed how the text traveled from late medieval Andalusia to early modern Europe and demonstrated the intricate ways in which autodidacticism was contested in and adapted to diverse cultural settings.<ref name="ben-zaken"/>

Autodidacticism apparently intertwined with struggles over [[Sufism]] in twelfth-century Marrakesh; controversies about the role of philosophy in pedagogy in fourteenth-century [[Barcelona]]; quarrels concerning [[astrology]] in [[Renaissance]] [[Florence]] in which [[Pico della Mirandola]] pleads for autodidacticism against the strong authority of intellectual establishment notions of predestination; and debates pertaining to [[experimentalism]] in seventeenth-century Oxford. Pleas for autodidacticism echoed not only within close philosophical discussions; they surfaced in struggles for control between individuals and establishments.<ref name="ben-zaken" />

In the story of Black American self-education, [[Heather Andrea Williams]] presents a historical account to examine Black American's relationship to literacy during [[slavery]], the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and the first decades of freedom.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=H.A.|title=Self-taught: Black American Education in slavery and freedom|year=2005|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=9780807829202|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TiWSrlpTTTIC}}</ref> Many of the personal accounts tell of individuals who have had to teach themselves due to [[racial discrimination]] in education.
<!-- See [[MOS:CULTURALREFS]] (and [[WP:TRIVIA]] in general) before adding to this section. -->

==In architecture==
[[Image:Tadao Ando 2004.jpg|thumb|[[Tadao Ando]] is a famous autodidact architect of the twenty-first century.]]
<!-- See [[MOS:CULTURALREFS]] (and [[WP:TRIVIA]] in general) before adding to this section. -->
Many successful and influential [[architect]]s, such as [[Mies van der Rohe]], [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], [[Violet-le-Duc|Viollet-Le-Duc]] and [[Tadao Ando]] were self-taught.

Few countries allow autodidacticism in [[architecture]] today, as the practice of architecture or the use of the title "architect", are now [[Professional requirements for architects|protected in most jurisdictions]].

Self-taught architects have generally studied and qualified in other fields such as [[engineering]] or [[handicraft|arts and crafts]]. [[Jean Prouvé]] was first a structural engineer. [[Le Corbusier]] had an academic qualification in decorative arts. [[Tadao Ando]] started his career as a draftsman, and [[Eileen Gray]] studied [[fine arts]].

When a [[political state]] starts to implement restrictions on the profession, there are issues related to the rights of established self-taught architects. In most countries the legislation includes a [[grandfather clause]], authorising established self-taught architects to continue practicing. In the UK, the legislation<ref>[http://www.aaruk.info/Legislation/Act31.PDF Architects (Registration) Act 1931] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203174642/http://www.aaruk.info/Legislation/Act31.PDF |date=3 December 2016 }} (UK)</ref> allowed self-trained architects with two years of experience to register. In France,<ref>[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=606CAD25CBEA6D17169D0D5D82D5C464.tpdjo14v_1?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000522423&dateTexte=19770104&categorieLien=id#JORFTEXT000000522423 Loi n°77-2 du 3 janvier 1977 sur l'architecture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325160612/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=606CAD25CBEA6D17169D0D5D82D5C464.tpdjo14v_1?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000522423&dateTexte=19770104&categorieLien=id#JORFTEXT000000522423 |date=25 March 2016 }} (Architects Act in France)</ref> it allowed self-trained architects with five years of experience to register. In Belgium,<ref>[http://www.ordredesarchitectes.be/fr/textes/juridique/loi_du_20_fevrier_1939.htm Loi du 20 fevrier 1939] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226220737/http://www.ordredesarchitectes.be/fr/textes/juridique/loi_du_20_fevrier_1939.htm |date=26 December 2010 }} (Architects Act in Belgium)</ref> the law allowed experienced self-trained architects in practice to register. In Italy,<ref>[http://www.ordinearchitetti.fi.it/writable/Documenti/Conoscere%20l'ordine/A3/COMPETENZE/A3_1-12%20RD%2024-06-1923%20n.1395.pdf legge 24 June 1923 No. 1395] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045216/http://www.ordinearchitetti.fi.it/writable/Documenti/Conoscere%20l'ordine/A3/COMPETENZE/A3_1-12%20RD%2024-06-1923%20n.1395.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }} (Architects Act in Italy)</ref> it allowed self-trained architects with 10 years of experience to register. In The Netherlands, the "{{Lang|nl|wet op de architectentitel van 7 juli 1987}}" along with additional procedures, allowed architects with 10 years of experience and architects aged 40 years old or over, with 5 years of experience, to access the register.<ref>Refer to document on the Dutch Registration System drafted after a meeting between the General Secretary and Hans Groenevald, Director of the Stichting Bureau Architectenreglster, (SBA) in the Hague on 1 October 1993. 1 October 1993 is a significant date because on that day the protection of the title "architect" came into force in the Netherlands.</ref>

Theoretical research such as ''Architecture of Change, Sustainability and Humanity in the Built Environment''<ref>''Architecture of Change, Sustainability and Humanity in the Built Environment'', Editors: Kristin Feireiss, Lukas Feireiss, {{ISBN|978-3-89955-211-9}}.</ref> or older studies such as ''[[Toward an Architecture|Vers une Architecture]]'' from [[Le Corbusier]] describe the practice of architecture as an environment changing with new technologies, sciences, and legislation. All architects must be autodidacts to keep up to date with new [[Technical standard|standards]], [[regulations]], or [[Methodology|methods]].

Self-taught architects such as [[Eileen Gray]], [[Luis Barragán]], and many others, created a system where working is also learning, where self-education is associated with [[creativity]] and [[productivity]] within a working environment.

While he was primarily interested in [[naval architecture]], [[William Francis Gibbs]] learned his profession through his own study of [[battleship]]s and [[ocean liner]]s. Through his life he could be seen examining and changing the designs of ships that were already built, that is, until he started his firm [[Gibbs and Cox]].
<!-- See [[MOS:CULTURALREFS]] (and [[WP:TRIVIA]] in general) before adding to this section. -->

==Future role==
The role of self-directed learning continues to be investigated in learning approaches, along with other important goals of education, such as content knowledge, epistemic practices and collaboration.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hmelo-Silver|first=C.E. |author2=R.G. Duncan |author3=C.A Chinn|title=Scaffolding and achievement in problem-based and inquiry learning: A response to Krischner, Sweller and Clark|journal=Educational Psychologist|year=2007|volume=42|issue=2|page=99|doi=10.1080/00461520701263368|s2cid=1360735 }}</ref> As colleges and universities offer [[distance learning]] degree programs and secondary schools provide [[cyber school]] options for K–12 students, technology provides numerous resources that enable individuals to have a self-directed learning experience. Several studies show these programs function most effectively when the "teacher" or facilitator is a full owner of virtual space to encourage a broad range of experiences to come together in an online format.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Barab|first=S.A. |author2=J.G. MaKinster |author3=J.A. Moore |author4=D.J. Cunningham|title=Designing and Building an online-community: The struggle to support sociability in the inquiry learning forum|journal=Educational Technology Research and Development|year=2001|volume=49|issue=4|page=71|doi=10.1007/bf02504948|s2cid=17614349 }}</ref> This allows self-directed learning to encompass both a chosen path of information inquiry, self-regulation methods and reflective discussion among experts as well as novices in a given area. Furthermore, [[massive open online course]]s (MOOCs) make autodidacticism easier and thus more common.

A 2016 [[Stack Overflow]] poll<ref>{{cite web | url=https://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016 | title=Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2016 | access-date=Nov 16, 2016 | archive-date=20 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220093453/https://stackoverflow.com/research/developer-survey-2016 | url-status=live }}</ref> reported that due to the rise of autodidacticism, 69.1% of [[software developer]]s appear to be self-taught.

==Notable individuals==
{{main|List of autodidacts}}

Some notable autodidacts can be broadly grouped in the following interdisciplinary areas:
* Artists and authors
* Actors, musicians, and other artists
* Architects
* Engineers and inventors
* Scientists, historians, and educators

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=10em|
* [[Academic conference]]
* [[Analytical skill]]
* [[Anti-intellectualism]]
* [[Body of knowledge]]
* [[Critical thinking]]
* [[Criticism of schooling]]
* [[Course (education)]]
* [[Cryptanalysis]]
* [[Curriculum studies]]
* [[Democratic education]]
* [[Democratization of knowledge]]
* [[Do it yourself]]
* [[Distance education]]
* [[Extracurricular activity]]
* ''[[Handbibliothek des allgemeinen und praktischen Wissens]]''
* [[Hermeneutics of suspicion]]
* [[Independent study]]
* [[Individualism]]
* [[Informal learning]]
* [[Intellectual need]]
* [[Intelligence]]
* [[Learner autonomy]]
* [[Learning]]
* [[Liberation psychology]]
* [[Lifelong learning]]
* [[List of self-managed social centers]]
* [[Metacognition]]
* [[Open-source curriculum]]
* [[Pedagogy]]
* [[Personal development]]
* [[Polymath]]
* [[Procedural knowledge]]
* [[Reading (process)]]
* [[Rhizome (philosophy)]]
* [[Scholar]]
* [[Self awareness]]
* [[Self-experimentation]]
* [[Subject (documents)]]
* [[Tutorial]]
* [[Unschooling]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
	| last = Bach
	| first = James Marcus
	| author-link = James Marcus Bach
	| date = 11 October 2011
	| title = Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar: Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion
	| url = 
	| location = 
	| publisher = Scribner
	| page = <!-- or pages: -->
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==External links==
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}

{{Education}}

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