'learner-driven' is a modern compound formed from 'learner' (from Old English 'leornere', from the verb 'leornian' meaning 'to learn') and 'driven' (the past participle/adjective form of 'drive', from Old English 'drīfan' meaning 'to force or push'), where the suffix-like element '-driven' came to mean 'motivated or guided by'.

The element 'drive' originally referred to physically forcing or pushing (Old English 'drīfan'). Over time the past participle 'driven' took on figurative senses (e.g. 'goal-driven', 'data-driven'). The compound 'learner-driven' emerged in recent decades by analogy with other X-driven compounds (e.g. 'user-driven', 'data-driven') to mean 'guided or motivated by the learner'.

Initially 'drive' carried a physical sense ('to push or force'); the figurative sense of being 'motivated or guided by' developed later, and '-driven' has been productively used to form adjectives meaning 'directed by X', which is the sense in 'learner-driven'.