When it comes to making decisions about what happens in courses, students don’t have much say. Teachers decide what students learn, how they’ll learn it, when they’ll learn it, and finally, whether they have learned it. Expertise and professional responsibilities give teacher power over what happens in the course. Does that mean teachers should have complete control over student learning processes? It’s an interesting question because even though teachers wield a lot of power in their courses, they can’t make learning happen; students decide whether and how well they’ll learn what’s being taught. On the one hand, when learning is at the behest of others and when learners have no role or say regarding how it happens, motivation falters and learning tends to be superficial. On the other, students are novice learners in most college courses. Should they be making decisions about how the course is structured? Will they make good decisions, and how does this decision-making affect them and the course? This study offers an answer to those questions.
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