Abstract
I believe that by providing students with opportunities to take ownership of their learning (by allowing them to decide when, how and even what to learn) we can enhance student motivation, engagement and success. In this seminar I will explore two case studies from own practice, an on campus module with no content and a field courses with an open-ended research task, to evidence this belief. However, I will also explore two possibilities that should be taken into account when designing practice assumed to enhance independence; firstly that not all students want to learn independently and those who do often have a low level of confidence in their ability to do so; and, secondly that modular islands of independence in a programme might not have the level of impact that we hope for.