Session Coordinator: Sarah McCarthy

Self-Directed Learning (SDL) is a process in which learners are responsible for their own learning with minimal guidance from educators. While the required components of SDL vary based on the health professions program, in many cases students are required to determine the learning objectives, identify resources for learning, select and implement learning strategies and evaluate their learning outcomes. SDL is important to master as it allows students to develop the lifelong learning skills necessary to succeed in their profession. For this reason, it is commonly used in health professions education, and in some cases is a curriculum requirement. In an effort to empower students to further develop necessary professional life skills, this workshop aims to integrate both SDL and collaborative learning in a modified team-based learning (TBL) format. Bt the end of this Focus Session, participants will be able to:

1- Demonstrate self-directed learning (SDL) skills through the development of learning objectives and the identification of resources on the topic of SDL.

2- Assess their learning, both individually and in teams, during the readiness assurance test (RAT) phase.

3- Work collaboratively in teams to apply their foundational knowledge to solve a complex problem related to SDL.

4-Discuss ideas and approaches for the effective implementation of SDL in a collaborative learning environment.