Faculty members are sometimes unsure of the level of guidance to offer their students: they wish to help their students succeed while simultaneously offering opportunities for students to develop autonomy and take responsibility for their own learning. Student expectations can also complicate this balance, as their own fears and anxieties about success can lead them to ask for more help than they need—and more than will actually benefit them.
Therefore, in this interactive session, we will explore the following questions through an initial discussion: Are teachers guides? What does guidance mean in the context of the university classroom? Is guidance an indication of support, or does it encourage students to rely too heavily on faculty direction? Participants in this session will be asked to share their interpretations of “guidance” and the practices they use to guide their students. The facilitators will also take participants through two exercises that mimic activities we ask of students, including a debriefing of the exercise and a discussion of how it could be applied in class.
This session links to the “Motivating Learners” conference theme, as increasing students’ autonomy in the classroom can increase their intrinsic motivation, which is ultimately more powerful than the extrinsic motivation they receive through grades alone (Lang, 2013). It also links to the “Student-Centered Curricula, Assessment, and Teaching Practices” conference theme, as empowering students to become co-creators of their own learning experiences has been proven to be an effective teaching and learning strategy (Weimer 2013).
By the end of this session, participants will be able to do the following:
- Assess students’ guidance needs in their specific courses
- Apply specific teaching and learning strategies to encourage student confidence, autonomy, and responsibility
ReferencesBain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Lang, J. M. (2013). Cheating lessons: Learning from academic dishonesty. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-centered teaching: Five key changes to practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
