Lifelong Learning | How to Develop Your Personal Curriculum
I have been thinking about the personal curriculum trend nonstop for the past few days.
Lifestyle blogger Carly Rioran describes a personal curriculum as a learning plan that frames whatever you want to learn about “as if you’d signed up for a college course… But it’s completely designed and directed by you.”
This trend is attributed to Elizabeth Jean, aka xparmesanprincessx on TikTok. Jean started sharing her monthly curriculum online, and people (like me) are loving this concept. A Today.com article by Emily Lichty provides some additional background.
“I like to explore through learning,” Jean shares. “I’ve always been a self-motivated learner. I just want to know things. I’m a nosy lady.”
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Jean’s curriculum usually includes a combination of interesting topics to research, books to read, and hobbies to pursue.
I think this is such a fun, novel way to enrich your life.
Why is This Trend so Popular?
Many of us are craving knowledge.
This trend is popular among those who want to spend less time scrolling and more time learning. Another TikTok creator, Gianna Jackson, views the personal curriculum as “a way to reconnect with her creative passions.”
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Following your curiosities is more fun than being forced to study topics deemed important by external forces.
Riordan’s relatable take is that, “I actually like that it’s completely in my hands and completely open-ended. It’s the best part of learning without the pressures of actual school.”
Sadly, the standard education structure can kill the joy of learning for some of us. For example, I had to work to regain my love of reading, which I had lost amidst assigned reading in college.
Like other personal curriculum fans, I miss learning.
I once, frustratedly, told my parents that “my brain feels like mush.”
I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.
I hear people around my age expressing frustration about the inability to focus and absorb information.
Wright shares that input, such as “reading, movement or connection” provides our brains with the balance that we need to thrive.
Why it Works
What I like most about the idea of a personal curriculum is that it provides a helpful structure to the vague concept of “learning.”
I remember a long time ago telling my dad that instead of going back to school, I wanted to further my education using free online resources.
I loved school, and I love the idea of learning new things. But the vast amount of information available can feel overwhelming. Creating a sense of structure makes learning feel more manageable.
Which is why I am so excited to create my September curriculum (just in time for back-to-school season).
So, let’s go over some tips to help you create a personal curriculum.
How to Create Your Personal Curriculum
As with any new habit, starting can feel exciting, but daunting.
The first step is to tune into yourself.
Get creative. Brainstorm everything that you want to learn more about.
I started with a journal exercise. To develop my main “classes,” I wrote down everything I’m interested in, stream-of-consciousness style.
This is an intuitive process. As Jean shares, “I’m a very intuitive person, so if something feels fun and good for me, I just follow that feeling.”
If you feel drawn towards a certain topic, lean into that.
Also, look to others for inspiration. I sometimes find it challenging to come up with new systems.
Remember that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It’s helpful to see what other people are doing and adapt that to fit your needs.
Cocí Chanél on TikTok, aka prettygirlstyle08, offers these reflection questions that you can use as a starting point:
What are you going to do?
Where are you going to go?
What are you going to read?
Who are you going to visit?
Who are you going to call?
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Chanél sees a personal curriculum as a way to give yourself something to look forward to. Dedicating time to learn about topics you find interesting is a great way to make life more exciting.
Chanél also recommends that you write out your syllabus and review it every day.
Writing down your goals helps you to solidify them and hold yourself accountable.
I have so many thoughts running through my brain. If I don’t write things down, I’ll lose them.
I also love the reminder to continue reviewing your syllabus. I plan to review mine as a way to refocus myself.
Once you have your class ideas, come up with your “assignments.”
Depending on your interests, you might also assign some books/articles/movies/shows/documentaries/podcasts/YouTube videos to review.
Jackson breaks her personal curriculum down into “units” and creates a syllabus for each unit, which includes:
the class name
the credits
a course description
learning objectives
reading materials
weekly assignments
a final project
Jackson identifies as someone who has a lot of interests and recommends this strategy for anyone who feels they don’t have time/resources to learn about their interests.
I also liked this breakdown from notesbykayla on TikTok.
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Start by thinking about your larger goals. These are like your “classes.”
Once you have your class ideas, come up with your “assignments.” You can do this by breaking the larger goals down into steps.
Then, determine a time frame to fill in. Do you want to plan your curriculum based on the:
Semester?
Quarter?
Season?
Month?
Since you are creating this for yourself, you get to determine the pacing that works best for you.
I decided to make this a monthly thing. I’ve seen people equating it to setting monthly goals.
Where to Find Educational Information
One of the many highlights of a personal curriculum is that you can learn for free using the resources available to you.
There are so many free courses that you can take through sites like Coursera.
Your local library is also an amazing free resource for researching different topics.
You can also learn from podcasts, YouTube channels, and social media creators that share educational content.
I hope this post inspires you to create your personal curriculum. I would love to hear what topics you are learning about. I’m excited for us to continue supporting each other as we create lives we love.
Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash
I love that people are finding ways to embrace their curiosity and make learning fun! I'm going to build a curriculum to improve my art skills
I really enjoyed reading your post. You give lots of good reasons why the personal curriculum trend is so motivating to people.
I work in higher ed as an educational developer, and I'm really interested in how these personal curriculum plans are being organized by curious learners. Do you mind if I include this postin a mini, informal analysis project I'm working on? I'm interested in studying posts about personal curricula to see what the common themes are, the process, etc. All with the goal of sharing back what I learned here on Substack :)