CTLC Series: Choosing to Learn: The Value of Autonomy in Post-Secondary Education

Location: Pleasants Room in Wilson Library, or via Zoom

Speaker: Dr. Daniel “Danny” Oppenheimer, Carnegie Mellon University

Description: Despite a large literature demonstrating the importance of agency/autonomy in student motivation and achievement, there has been little focus on developing specific, practical, and implementable interventions that promote autonomy in educational settings. If anything, many practices endorsed by university teaching and learning centers, such as mandatory attendance, mandatory drafts, and syllabus quizzes, serve to undermine feelings of autonomy. Here, we briefly review the literature on the benefits of promoting agency, provide several concrete teaching strategies for doing so, and provide evidence of their efficacy. Agency-promoting teaching practices have the potential to improve student outcomes both in the classroom (i.e. more motivated students who consequently learn more) and beyond.

We welcome all instructors, faculty, graduate students, TAs, and postdocs.

Register for this event here