Self-directed learning can be difficult. It requires passion, motivation, a willingness to fail fast and fail hard, but for those who stick it out, the process can be extremely rewarding, especially when it comes to seeing the fruits of your labours. Learning at your own pace isn't a new concept - nor is the infrastructure behind some of the web's largest online learning platforms. Take Khan Academy for example. Any student, around the world, can register on the site for free, and devour knowledge in professionally designed modules whenever it suits their schedule. Or Wikipedia from a research and information standpoint. Despite the fact that your teachers might not like the fact that people can inaccurately edit information, the fact of the matter is that most people don't, and the information that resides on the site is generally well researched with proper citations at the bottom of the page.

Over the last couple of years, coding has become an extremely valuable skill, and more and more, people are transitioning toward learning the skills required to do the job online via a range of different open source initiatives. What makes the article below interesting is that there are thirty different articles linked, and each article has the full story behind the person involved and what inspired them to make the leap.

• In reading the stories above, what kinds of commonalities did you discover between the various different profiles?
• What other fields might be well suited toward a self-paced online learning environment?
• Have you or anyone you know used an online resource to learn a new skill? If so, what was the skill and where did you get the information?