Engaging in Self-Directed Activity

In order for students to be engaged and interested in a self-directed activity they need to see need and have ownership of the work they are doing.  The problem with this concept is how to make students find something in our state curriculum that they feel "needs" to be learned and then incorporate it into the districts standards for our pay for performance model.  Somehow you need to get students to find a part of our/their curriculum that they feel a personal connection to.  After all, if Gmail was created during this "free choice time" didn't the creator obviously feel a personal connection to the content he/she was working on?  So the problem becomes how to make individuals that may not be naturally curious/studious work on a project/idea that will allow them to learn the necessary material but also allow them to build something new that they feel a personal interest and connection to.
What does it look like in MY classroom?
In my classroom, Technology Basics Class, there is some of this but I have set parameters that give them a focused topic.  The students go online and get their assignment off the server and also while there they can see a rubric and examples of what this assignment is.  Other than the broad "skeleton" I have given them, they are free to create something of their own design.  My main objective is to ensure that they learn the proper ways to format and use the features of the software.  Where they get the opportunity to be autonomous is in the content/subject matter of the material.  They can learn about anything they wish and then take that information and put it into the "skeleton" I have given them for using the particular software. 
I feel this gives them some autonomy but my question is, "Would they even bother to use the software without my direction?"  My students know they aren't creating the next Gmail with their work so why/how exactly do I get them to have the desire to work inside this software with the goal being to create a project that incorporates new learning and fuels a natural curiosity in them?