In its broadest sense, self-directed learning is both a goal and a process by which learners' readiness and capacity to take the responsibility for managing their learning activities can be enhanced. The processes of self-directed learning include:

• reflecting on one's own learning needs
• setting learning goals and applying learning strategies
• identifying human and material resources for learning
• evaluating one's own learning
• suggesting future learning methods

The elements listed above can be identified as commonalities in the many definitions of self-directed learning, for example those of Knowles (1975) and Gibbons (2002). Understanding self-directed learning as both a goal and a process brings to light an inherent difficulty for teachers: students can only develop the necessary skills through engaging in the processes of self-directed learning, but they need these skills in order to engage in them successfully. Therefore it is necessary for teachers to guide students in the early stages of progression towards self-directedness, but it is also necessary for teachers to allow students some independence and thereby to accept that they may have to experience difficulty and failure before they can experience success.

The teacher, therefore, has an essential role in helping students to develop independence through engaging in the processes listed above. However, the role of the teacher may be different at different stages of the learning process and at different stages of students' development.

The following table shows how Thornton (2010) describes the role of the teacher at each stage of the self-directed learning process:

The following section shows how teachers supported students in these stages of the project.