Personal Curriculum: Learning How to Learn (Again)
Eight months ago, I decided to take my education into my own hands. Not in the dramatic "dropping out to start a company" way, but in the quieter, more systematic approach of designing my own learning path alongside whatever formal education might come later.
Since January 1st, I've completed 212 certificates across AI, ethics, business, education, basically following every thread that catches my interest and seeing where it leads. It's been messy, overwhelming, fascinating, and incredibly productive in ways I didn't expect.
After 8 months of intensive self-directed education, I'm starting to see patterns in how this kind of learning actually works, both its incredible advantages and its unique challenges.
The Good: You can move incredibly fast when you're genuinely curious. No waiting for classmates, no irrelevant assignments, no artificial pacing. When something clicks, you can dive deeper immediately. When something doesn't serve your goals, you can pivot without penalty.
The Challenge: Without an external structure, it's easy to collect certificates without developing a real understanding. The constant question becomes: am I learning, or am I just accumulating credentials? How do you know when you've learned "enough" of something to move on?
The Surprising: The connections between seemingly unrelated fields become much more visible when you're learning across disciplines simultaneously. AI ethics informs business strategy, which influences educational approaches, which circles back to technical implementation.
September: Seeing Machines, Understanding History
This month, I'm loosely organising around some threads and we shall see how they weave together.
History of Robotics - Started with some YouTube videos about early robotics research and got pulled into the broader story of how we've thought about intelligent machines over time. The optimism of the 1950s, the AI winters, the quiet progress happening in labs, while popular culture imagined something entirely different. I plan to go through and watch every episode on this playlist here https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAuiGdPEdw0ggk4S5RWhwMSuR5Wr0g-Df&si=FTLgFcqPFtq9i2nK
So far on my list is Spring 2025 Evolutionary Robotics by Josh Bongard. I have managed to watch the first 3 videos on this, and I have been using NotebookLM to take and keep notes on this. I think it's a useful place to get started, considering Robotics is about to be a huge part of my further study, and the beauty of the internet these days sis that it allows me to learn a lot more from different universities and lecturers, so why not take advantage of it?
Personal Explorations - I'm also leaving space for whatever else catches my attention this month. Maybe it'll connect to the main threads, maybe it won't. That's part of the experiment.
I hope to finish some courses and certificates, which will challenge me to go more in-depth and develop more technical language.
Cyber Security Course by Account Academy- Although this has a cost, it's such a great course, and it's also CPD certified. I feel it’s a natural thing to want to study. Found here: https://accountacademy.co.uk/
Mind Studio 30 Agent Boot Camp: Again, there is a waitlist for this. However, I can get started on building agents without it being in the bootcamp, as it’s all available online, found here: https://mindstudioai.notion.site/30-day-ai-bootcamp-curriculum
I'm planning to document this process with weekly updates, not formal progress reports, but honest reflections on what I'm learning, what I'm struggling with, and where my curiosity is leading me next. The kind of writing that would have lived in a notebook before is now shared in case it resonates with anyone else trying to make sense of how we learn outside institutional frameworks.
Some weeks might be academic deep dives, and others might be short notes. The format will follow the content, not the other way around. I also plan to refresh my mind on some math and physics. After all, every self-respecting scientist is well versed in these, yes?
That then brings the question, Why document this?
There's something valuable about making learning visible, especially the messy, non-linear kind that doesn't fit neatly into course descriptions or LinkedIn skills sections. Too much of our intellectual development happens in private, in the spaces between formal education and professional work. Personal curricula are how we stay intellectually alive beyond formal education, how we develop our own perspectives rather than just consuming others'. After 8 months of intensive self-directed learning, I'm convinced this kind of education is not just valuable but essential for anyone working at the intersection of rapidly evolving fields.
All of the above is just a really nice, rounded way of saying, “ This is a way of me holding myself accountable because now that I’ve published this, I have to follow through.”
Starting a personal curriculum of your own? I'd love to hear what you're exploring. This is very much an experiment in progress.
Tags: #personal-curriculum #learning #computer-vision #robotics-history #experiments