Letting Go of the Reins: Supporting Student Needs

Stephanie Wasmanski, Wilkes University

Keywords: Student Choice, Student Autonomy, Self-Determination Theory

Key Statement: Supporting students’ basic psychological needs of autonomy and competence through self-selected activities and positive feedback may enhance student engagement and motivation.

Introduction

Educators are tasked with finding strategies and creating learning environments that both support and enhance student motivation and engagement. You may have found yourself evaluating the motivation and engagement of your students in online or traditional classroom settings. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) posits that human motivation exists along a continuum of amotivation to intrinsic motivation. The position of one’s motivation is influenced by the satisfaction of three psychological needs: competence, relatedness, and autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2017).

A sub-theory of SDT, Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET), focuses specifically on how events that occur in social environments either support or thwart intrinsic motivation. CET expands upon SDT by examining the impact of external factors on intrinsic motivation, which can be enhanced or diminished based on the level of perceived autonomy and competence in a given activity. In the classroom, educators can leverage CET by providing students with opportunities for autonomy in their learning experiences. This could involve offering choices with assignments, fostering a sense of mastery or competency through achievable challenges, and minimizing controlling factors such as excessive rewards or punishments.  “Events such as rewards, evaluations, or feedback” [have] functional significance” (Ryan & Deci, 2017, p. 123) to students, which impacts their intrinsic motivation as it relates to their perceived level of autonomy and competence. Functional significance refers to the extent to which the event is perceived as controlling or informational. When feedback is perceived as controlling or coercive, it diminishes intrinsic motivation. Conversely, when feedback is perceived as information, it promotes competence and autonomy, thereby enhancing intrinsic motivation.

In general, enhanced intrinsic motivation has been shown to lessen procrastination (Rakes & Dunn, 2010) and improve academic outcomes. The satisfaction of the psychological needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy are needed to sustain intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2017).

Image courtesty of Javier Allegue Baros, via Unsplash.

Background

As an educator, you can create an environment that fosters students’ perceived level of competence, relatedness, and autonomy, which, in turn, will impact intrinsic motivation and active engagement. This proposed shift from controlled to autonomy-supportive facilitation may feel uncomfortable in the beginning. Following, I offer some suggestions on ways to support students’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness based on personal teaching experiences.

Creating a supportive learning environment in which students feel their needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met isn’t always easy, especially when there are performance expectations for both teachers and students or a lack of teacher autonomy with respect to classroom practices (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Also, you cannot guarantee increased motivation, no matter which approach you take (or able to take), but you can support students in this regard. Regardless of the level of autonomy you have within your own classroom, consider implementing the strategies you are able.

Incorporate Student Choice

Choice has been shown to have a positive influence on intrinsic motivation, levels of perceived competence, effort, and the tendency for individuals to choose a more challenging task (Patall et al., 2008). Individuals are naturally inclined to select optimally challenging tasks; when they are successful at completing these tasks, intrinsic motivation increases (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Some ways to incorporate student choice include self-directed and/or self-selected learning activities in online and traditional learning environments.

It has been shown that students who engage in self-selected activities are more intrinsically motivated than those who take part in prescribed activities (Patall et al., 2008; Wasmanski, 2021). When possible, provide students with the ability to self-select learning activities. Provide students with several options from which to choose, taking care to ensure learning objectives can be met with the selections made by students. When creating these different assignment opportunities, be sure to provide rich instructions for students including a rubric so expectations and alignment are clear.

Student-Moderated Discussions

Rather than providing students with discussion prompts in class or online forums, transfer the responsibility to students. Student-moderated discussions provide students with autonomy and allow them to select topics that are meaningful to them, which also fosters the psychological need of relatedness. It’s been my experience that students are more active in the discussion when they are able to select a current event to which they apply the course content in a given week.

It’s important to be clear in your expectations of the discussion format. These student-moderated discussions could be in the form of a large group dialogue or dividing into smaller breakout sessions (Wasmanski, 2019), depending on the fit. In a recent comparison of two course sections (one with teacher-led discussions, and one with student-moderated discussions), I noted that there was a 7% increase in student engagement, as measured by posts and replies read, in the section with student-moderated discussions.

Set Clear Goals and Deadlines

For any assignment, clear expectations and instructions are needed, and so are goals and deadlines. As with any assignment, students should see the alignment between the assignment and/or activity and course learning objectives.

When goals (including deadlines) are set with a clear rationale and in noncontrolling ways, they can be energizing and positively motivating. Yet, when set in controlling ways, often backed by threats or contingent rewards, they can undermine intrinsic motivation, and sometimes decrease quality of engagement (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Consider not imposing late penalties for work not submitted by a designated deadline. Rather, stress the importance of submitting work on time as a means to ensure content understanding and the foundation for future learning. Positioning deadlines as a motivator for learning rather than simply as a control could have a positive impact on student motivation and engagement. It has been my experience that although students may appreciate deadlines to keep them from falling behind, many students often share their deep appreciation for extra time, when needed, to complete a higher-quality assignment that meets the learning objectives rather than submitting something of lesser quality that just checks the box of completion by an imposed deadline.

Provide Supportive Feedback

“CET postulates that events such as rewards, evaluation, or feedback have a particular meaning of functional significance that predicts the impact of these events on intrinsic motivation…which largely concerns the implications of such events for one’s autonomy or competence” (Ryan & Deci, 2017, p. 123). Knowing they are being evaluated, students may already experience a decrease in intrinsic motivation (Harackiewicz et al., 1987; Maehr & Stallings, 1972; Ryan, 1982; Smith, 1975, as cited in Ryan & Deci, 2017). Positive and constructive feedback can increase intrinsic motivation and students’ perceived competence. Perception is key. If students perceive feedback to be controlling or inauthentic, intrinsic motivation may be thwarted (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Negative feedback has the potential to diminish intrinsic motivation, though it may increase perceived competence if the student is able to gain mastery over the subject upon review and application of the feedback. Consider providing students with an opportunity to “revise and resubmit” an assignment. This might positively influence perceived competence, but it also demonstrates your commitment to their learning over deadlines and grades.

Conclusion

Fostering an environment that caters to students’ perceived competence, relatedness, and autonomy is pivotal for enhancing intrinsic motivation and student engagement. Transitioning from controlled to autonomy supporting facilitation may initially provoke discomfort. However, it is essential to recognize any resistance one may have when “letting go of the reins” and implementing such strategies in spite of challenges such as teacher and/or student performance expectations or potential limitation of teacher autonomy. There isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach, but there are many ways to adjust teaching styles to meet the psychological needs of our students without requiring extreme change.

When I reflect on the transition from instructor-led discussions and prescribed assignments to student-moderated discussions and self-selected assignments in my classes, it has become evident that this shift has positively impacted student engagement and enhanced the online learning environment. By empowering students to take lead in discussions and choose assignments aligned with their interests and strengths, an improvement in quality of work has also been observed. The changes have fostered a sense of ownership and autonomy among my students, perhaps allowing them to feel more invested in their own learning, which enhances their intrinsic motivation and results in a deeper level of engagement and genuine interest in the weekly discussions and assignments. This move towards a more student-focused approach has promoted collaborative learning and peer interaction which has enhanced our dynamic and interactive online learning community. Students are not only learning from the course content and my contributions, but also from each other, enriching their overall learning experience.

Discussion Questions

1. In your own professional development or time as a student, can you recall instances in which you were allowed to be more autonomous? Did it impact your learning experience?

2. Pause and reflect: What concerns do you have about "letting go of the reins" in your classroom?

3. In what ways do you currently support student autonomy? How could you better foster an autonomy supportive learning environment?

References

Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., & Robinson, J. C. (2008). The effects of choice on intrinsic motivation and related outcomes: A meta-analysis of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 270-300. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.270

Rakes, G. C. & Dunn, K. W. (2010). The impact of online graduate students’ motivation and self regulation on academic procrastination. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 9(1), 78-93.

Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-Determination Theory: Basic psychology needs in motivation, development, and wellness. The Guilford Press.

Wasmanski, S. L. (2019). Break out of the comfort zone: Facilitating successful breakout sessions. The Teaching Professor.

Wasmanski, S. L. (2021). Graduate student choice: Relative autonomy and control in online courses. Journal of Applied and Professional Studies, 2(3).

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