Making one's own learning choices is central to self-directed learning, yet the opportunity to choose learning activities is rarely given to students in formal educational settings. The case study reported in this paper is a description of student experiences and perceptions in a software tools graduate level class that offered substantial learning choices. Findings indicate that students did not expect to be given a learning choice but had positive reactions. They chose what to learn based on future usefulness, familiarity and personal interest. Students also experienced an overall learning process that progressed from isolation to community and from subject matter orientation to goal orientation. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)