The emergence of personal learning environments (PLEs) represents a major shift in education allowing learners to acquire future-ready required skills, particularly self-directedness. This shift was a response to the growing need of a personalized, learner-centered, and technology enhanced learning environment. Such environments naturally promote self-directed learning (SDL) by encouraging learners to take control of their learning experience through shaping, personalizing and building environments that suit their personal needs. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the validity of this approach by exploring the relationship between personal learning environments and self- directedness. More specifically, the extent to which personal learning environment has an influence on international learners’ self-directedness in the host universities. The theoretical framework mobilized for this study is Garrison’s model for self-directed learning (1997). We have adopted a mixed approach: quantitative through a questionnaire distributed to the target population and qualitative using a focus group.