LInc Talk

Motivation and Self-Regulation in Learning: The Role of Autonomy and Autonomy Support  
   
Jonathan Stolk, PhD
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Education
Olin College of Engineering

Students’ motivational orientations have powerful effects on their learning engagement and outcomes. Positive forms of drive – those shaped by a sense of value, interest, and enjoyment – are linked to deeper learning, better performance, and increased critical thinking, creativity, and self-regulation. By contrast, motivations tied to extrinsic pressures or rewards can lead to surface-level engagement, reliance on teacher control, poorer performance and persistence, and negative emotions. Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT) for motivation and self-regulated learning (SRL) theory, this introductory workshop is designed to help instructors (1) better understand student motivations in classroom contexts, (2) connect motivation and self-regulation to autonomy support, and (3) imagine or redesign learning experiences that foster self-determined motivations and self-directed learning. Workshop participants will practice applying a set of research-to-practice tools for analyzing and explaining motivations and self-regulated learning opportunities, including a framework that breaks down learner autonomy and instructor autonomy support into actionable course design and pedagogical decisions. We will spend time sharing personal observations about student motivations, critically examining our courses and curricula, and exploring ideas that may improve engagement through autonomy support. Throughout the workshop, we will share motivation research data from a diverse range of engineering and applied science courses.


Jon Stolk is an educator and researcher who specializes in designing and evaluating autonomy-supportive, project-based and interdisciplinary learning experiences. Stolk arrived at Olin College in summer 2001 – before the College had students, a campus, or a curriculum – and experienced all the joys and struggles of imagining and creating an unconventional engineering program and learning culture from scratch. Today, Stolk continues his quest to design extraordinary learning experiences that invite students to take control of their learning, grapple with complex systems, engage with the world in new ways, and emerge as confident self-directed learners. As a researcher, Dr. Stolk strives to understand how students develop and express motivations in the classroom; how people become self-directed learners; how faculty beliefs and values influence pedagogical choices; and how educators initiate and sustain change processes at their institutions. Dr. Stolk consults and collaborates with institutions around the world to translate research to practice, equip educators with useful curricular design tools and frameworks, and support faculty in testing educational prototypes and driving educational change.