Characteristics of Self-Learning Materials

The self-learning materials are designed based on learning theories, to a large extent on the basis of an eclectic approach combining behaviouristic, cognitive, and constructivist learning theories. Without going into these theories, we list five characteristics of self-learning materials: self-explanatory, self-contained, self-directed, self-motivating, and self-evaluating.

Self-Explanatory: The self-learning materials are written in a way that does not require any intermediary (teacher) to explain the content. This means, the content is written in simple language and in small chunks to help distance learners assimilate the content by reading and working through the instructions. Thus, a teacher is built in, into the text. But, these are different from instructional manuals that come with electronic gadgets or home appliances.

Self-Contained: The self-learning materials are prepared in such a way that the distance learners normally do not require additional materials to learn the concepts/ subject matter. This is highly important for the distance learners, since they are isolated and dispersed; they may not have access to good libraries and learning resources. Therefore, it is necessary that the learning materials supplied to them are detailed and self-contained in nature. This is also related to the nature of the ‘curriculum’ in distance education, which is open, whereas in face-to-face education, the curriculum is hidden in the syllabus. An open curriculum envisages that the content is clearly detailed, leaving nothing to the imagination