When College Students Direct Their Learning

How a College Professor Redesigned an Undergraduate Course in Education to Incorporate Self-Directed Learning

Abstract

Using a self-study methodology, this paper provides an account of a college professor’s redesign of an undergraduate education course from a traditional lecture-and-discussion to a significantly more self-directed learning (SDL) model. The author recounts the rationale for the redesign and how he redesigned the course to meet these challenges. The author then gives a qualitative description of several student projects from the course, and assesses whether the redesign achieved its goals.