How To Give Students More Control Over Their Education
Giving students more control over their education is giving them autonomy in learning. When we speak of autonomy, we refer to the ability of the student to take care of their learning process.
Autonomy in learning is something conscious that is done intentionally. With this autonomy, the student decides for himself to make decisions about learning, participating and takes control of his education. Working with the teacher develops certain capacities:
- Choice of content.
- Sequencing of subjects.
- Ability to plan classes.
- Self appraisal.
By giving students more control over their education, the student is no longer a mere recipient of content, but is an active part of the teaching-learning process. Allowing students to be involved and in control of certain facets of their education gives them tools for success.
For a teacher, thinking about giving control to students may seem like a risky thing, but in reality it is something that makes them more receptive actors. They will be more motivated to accept challenges. Let’s look at some things where we can give students more control over their education.
Control understanding in various ways to give students more control over their education
Evaluation is an area of education that is continually studied. Increasingly, the results indicate that it is not necessary to follow the traditional form of evaluation with the students. It is convenient to transform the methods.
For example, multiple choice questions are recommended , and even giving students a choice of two or more questions on an exam. Changing the way students are assessed makes subject understanding better and more comfortable for them.
Create more flexible tasks
The debate over student homework continues. Complaining about having too many homework is common for students of all ages. If we give them a choice between several possible tasks to perform, they will choose what they want to do, they will be more autonomous and the complaints will disappear.
We can give, for example, a sheet with language exercises to the students and put 15 exercises of which they will choose to do only 10. In a history topic, we can also let them choose several subtopics to write an essay. In mathematics, idem, choose half of the exercises given. Doing this can change students’ attitude toward homework completely.
Customized materials and content to give students more control over their education
If we want students to read a book in order to develop specific content, a good option is to propose a list of interesting related books and let them choose the one they want to read. It is about creating personalized content for themselves and enhancing their autonomy in this way too.
Own goals
It is something that should be done at the beginning of the course. We will meet with the students and investigate with them what their objectives and goals are for this course, and what they expect from it. We will see goals of all kinds, simpler and more complex, and we will always find several students who really want to learn. Others speak of what they want to be when they finish their studies and others of average grade.
Everything is interesting and we will take all of this into account when creating our sessions and exposing the subjects, creating tasks and searching for content. We will hold them accountable for their achievements.
Evaluate the teacher
As teachers, we are always evaluating students. To give them more control over their learning, we are going to encourage them to evaluate us from time to time and in a way that we all establish together. They will feel heard and will know that they have opinions and ways of expressing themselves regarding their learning.
With constant work looking for students to have more and more control over the teaching-learning process, we will be creating a most useful method for students and teachers.
Ultimately, it is a way of changing your point of view that, at first, may seem unappetizing but that, over time, will prove to be most beneficial for everyone.
