Self Made Scholar

Peer-to-Peer University Offers First Session of Free Online Classes

Jamie — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:10:29 +0000

Want to take a quality online class from an experienced adviser without paying a dime? The pilot session of Peer-to-Peer University begins this September. Although no formal credit is offered, Peer-to-Peer University courses look like a promising resource for lifelong learners. They combine freely available opencourseware with more personalized instruction, giving enrollees the opportunity to study [...]

The Ultimate Self-Education Reading List

Jamie — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:58:58 +0000

A Bibliography for Lifelong Learning Enthusiasts If you want to know more about self-education, your best bet is to start reading. Over the years, I’ve kept a list the best self-education books and blogs. Now I’m sharing them in the hopes that you’ll find something new and maybe add a suggestion or two of your own. [...]

Free Self-Ed eBook: Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar

Jamie — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:38:20 +0000

When James Bach was a young teen, he dropped out of high school to learn on his own. Teachers said that he’d end up pumping gas for a living. But, instead, he studied technology and took a position as the youngest group manager at Apple Computer when he was only 20. Now, Bach calls himself a [...]

Adventures in Unschooling: Interview with Blake Boles

Jamie — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:59:41 +0000

Unschooling advocate Blake Boles is dedicated to helping teens learn on their own. He’s worked at Grace Llywellyn’s famed Not-Back-to-School camp, cycled through the Argentinian countryside with a group of unschoolers, and planned unconventional adventures for young people who choose to learn on their own. Blake’s first book, College Without High School will be on shelves [...]

5 Minds for the Future: Cultivating Thinking Skills

Jamie — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:32:29 +0000

“…We must immediately expand our vision beyond standard educational institutions. In our cultures of today – and of tomorrow – parents, peers, and media play roles at least as significant as do authorized teachers and formal schools…if any cliché of recent years ring true, it is the acknowledgment that learning must be lifelong.” – Howard [...]

How to Ghost College Classes

Jamie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:08:53 +0000

Steve Jobs says that dropping out of college was one of the best decisions he ever made. Why? Because after quitting school he was able to sit in on courses that actually helped him learn. He’d walk into whatever class he wanted and just blend in with the crowd. “The minute I dropped out I could [...]

Ivy League Education at Home Part 7: Quantitative Reasoning

Jamie — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:03:02 +0000

“The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple.” - S. Gudder When you hear the phrase “quantitative reasoning,” does it bring you back to days of high school Algebra and Calculus? Does it make you remember the anguish of learning formulas without a purpose explained to you? [...]

Harvard Classics vs. Great Books of the Western World

Jamie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:27:24 +0000

There are two book collections designed to give the average reader an in-depth liberal education: the Harvard Classics and the Great Books of the Western World. The volumes in the Great Books and the Harvard Classics collections were hand-picked by influential presidents of major universities in the first half of the twentieth century. During a time [...]

Practical Learning: Reuniting Thinking and Doing

Jamie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:43:39 +0000

“If thinking is bound up with action, then the task of getting an adequate grasp on the world, intellectually, depends on our doing stuff in it.” The word “intelligence” conjures up images of books, classrooms, and serious-minded professors. But, real learning is just as likely to involve wrenches, ballet studios, and repairmen examining the parts of [...]

5 Ways You Can Support Self-Education on the Web

Jamie — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:30:10 +0000

The web is an amazing collection of no-cost resources for lifelong learners. I’ve shared hundreds of resource links on this blog and there are millions of others available to help anyone in their pursuit of learning. I often take learning-oriented websites for granted. But, every once and a while, it’s important to consider how these [...]