Research on Curriculum Design Integrating Self-Directed Project-based Teaching

Abstract

In the new era, under the reform of higher education emphasizing the cultivation of autonomous and innovative talents, traditional project-based teaching generally suffers from practical problems such as students passively completing tasks, lacking self-control, and insufficient intrinsic motivation for learning. Self-leadership theory centers on behavioral focus, natural rewards, and constructive thinking as core strategies, emphasizing individual autonomous planning, self-motivation, and cognitive optimization, providing a new theoretical perspective for reconstructing project-based teaching logic. This paper takes professional course teaching in higher education institutions as its research object, bases itself on classic theories of self-leadership, analyzes the existing pain points of project-based teaching, and systematically builds a project-based curriculum framework integrating self-leadership from three major modules: pre-class goal framework, in-class project implementation, and closed-loop post-class evaluation. It refines key teaching design points for each stage and proposes optimization paths focusing on ensuring teaching implementation, supporting course resources, and cultivating teacher abilities. The research aims to improve the theoretical system of project-based teaching, provide practical design ideas for university curriculum reform, and help cultivate new-generation university students with qualities of autonomous learning and self-development.