While teachers may perceive the value of flexible, student-centred learning, particularly in terms of the benefits of new technologies, this value may not be universally accepted by the students whom they teach. It can be argued that teachers need to be flexible about becoming flexible, and to recognise the paradox of imposing self-direction on students.

This paper provides a case study which describes such an experience with a group of graduate nursing students. It examines the results of an evaluation conducted to identify student and teacher perceptions of the experience, with a view to offering some recommendations which might be transferable to other situations, in order to better prepare students for flexible learning, and allow them to reap the pedagogical benefits of a variety of student-centred learning approaches.