To succeed in online courses, students need skills to manage their own learning, stay motivated, and ask for help, often with limited guidance. In this session, researchers present an actionable self-directed learning (SDL) framework to bolster students’ learning skills and mindsets. They will share the SDL Instructional Model, comprised of three easy-to-implement instructional strategies co-developed and tested in STEM courses at broad-access institutions.

From this session, participants will:

• Deepen their understanding of how SDL addresses student and faculty challenges in online courses;
• Explore three evidence-supported strategies to promote SDL that can be implemented in any course, regardless of discipline or modality;
• Learn from perspectives from instructors and students who have used the Model; and
• Reflect on how to apply the Model in one’s own institutional and instructional settings. 

Participants will leave with specific guidance and resources to apply these strategies in their own classrooms.