What are my intentions?

The first and biggest question to be answered is what am I trying to accomplish here? What do I want to get out of this independent study course?

I want to become familiar with the field of self-directed learning. I've looked around for courses offered here or at other institutions, and there don't seem to be any. So, the obvious answer is... to do it myself. Talk about ironic fulfillment of desire. This becomes my main goal: to learn more about self-directed learning.

There are a couple of ways I hope to accomplish this. Firstly, I want to become familiar with the literature and research in the field. To that end, I intend to read and post about at least 1 resource (a journal article, chapter in a book, etc.) per week. I'll try and get to some of the "classic" writings (this week's, Philip Candy, probably falls under that category), as well as more recent work, particularly work that relates to the connections between educational technology and SDL.

Secondly, I also plan to undertake a self-directed learning project of my own. That's right, I plan to learn something this semester. I still have to decide what I'm going to learn about, but that's all part of the plan. I will reflect on this experience both through a learning journal and in postings on this blog.

The final product for this course will consist of a term paper that draws upon the resources generated throughout my experience - both the research I conducted and my own personal experience. The paper will be a summary of, and a reflection upon, my foray into the field of self-directed learning.