Motivation, Ownership, and the Role of the Instructor in Active Learning

This article systematizes recently published accounts and the author's experience on motivation, learning process ownership, and the role of the instructor in active learning methods, such as role-plays. It argues that active learning is most productive when the instructor creates and consistently enforces a stable and clear framework of rules. Active learning methods often produce higher levels of motivation, thanks to a greater visibility of students' efforts, higher stakes of success within a competitive collaborative setup, and a greater ownership of the whole process by students. High levels of motivation arguably improve the quality and depth of learning. Novice users of active learning may, therefore, perceive that the self-effacement of the instructor in a fully horizontal cooperative setting is the right way to optimize learning outcomes. However, ownership and increased motivation are likely to create several problems-overmotivation, confusion, alienation, and hostility-that can be solved best by the instructor. This article uses a conceptualization of the student-instructor relationship in which cooperation and dominance are not mutually exclusive and claims that instead of self-effacement, a cooperative, but authoritative, relationship between students and instructor maximizes the learning potential in active learning settings.