Empowerment Strategies

Empowerment is one of the five broad groups of strategies in the MUSICModel of Motivation.

Overview

“Students are more motivated and engaged when they feel empowered; that is, when they have the freedom to control some aspect of their environment and they can make decisions about things that affect them. Empowerment in the MUSIC model refers to giving students some power over some aspects of their learning. It places the students in control by giving them the freedom to make decisions. When you empower students, they have a sense of freedom and autonomy.” (Jones, 2018, p. 43)

“It’s critical to note that you can only empower students to do things that are within their abilities or slightly beyond their abilities. If you give them too much freedom beyond their abilities, they will feel helpless and will likely have difficulty knowing how to even begin the activity. Therefore, you want to increase students’ perceptions of empowerment, but also keep their perceptions of success at a reasonable level so that they believe they can succeed if they put forth the required effort. This demonstrates another point: it’s important to consider the other four components in the MUSIC model when you make changes to one of the components.” (Jones, 2018, p. 43-44)

Questions for Teacher Reflection

Teachers should consider the following questions as they consider which empowerment strategies to implement (Jones, 2009, p. 274):

— Do students believe that they have control over some aspects of their learning?

— Do students believe that the teacher empowers them and does not try to manipulate their behavior?

Strategies

Empowerment strategies can be divided into the five sub-categories shown in this figure and explained below.

Examples

The bulleted examples provided below are just examples, there are many other ways to give students empowerment. It’s up to the teachers to decide which strategies are most appropriate for their classes. These examples are quoted directly from Jones (2018, p. 45 to 73).

Choices

Provide students with choices during class and within assignments.

Allow students to choose the order in which they complete assignments.
Allow students to make choices within an assignment.
Allow students to choose which assignments they want to complete.
Allow students to choose the topic of their assignments, as long as their final product relates to the course content and course objectives.
Allow students to choose the format of an assignment.
Allow students to find or create course resources.
Solicit students’ ideas for grading criteria.
Allow students to help create classroom rules and policies.
Allow students to express their thoughts and ideas.
Give students opportunities to lead or co-lead instruction.
Set deadlines for assignments and tests, but don’t set the due dates too close together.
Use games that put students in charge of making decisions.
Allow students to do whatever they want to do for an assignment. Okay, I’ll admit that I don’t recommend this strategy for all courses because it’s an extreme example.

Learner-directed Approaches

Incorporate learner-directed approaches.

Use problem-based learning (PBL) or project-based learning to engage students in real-world problems.
Incorporate inquiry approaches into your course. “Inquiry approaches” (a.k.a., inquiry learning, inquiry-based learning) is a broad term that can refer to any type of teaching strategy in which students inquire by answering questions or solving problems.
Use case studies in your course.

Control

Explain to students the amount of control they have in the course.

Explain to students how they have control over certain aspects of the course.
Provide students with your rationales for the course rules.

Rewards

Don’t give rewards that may be perceived as controlling.

Avoid using rewards unnecessarily when they are not needed to motivate students.
Reframe your “punishments” as rewards.

Language

Avoid controlling language and allow students to talk more.

Minimize the use of controlling language.
Use language only when you have something worthwhile to say; otherwise, keep your mouth shut.
Allow students to talk more, which will help you talk less; or perhaps you can talk about the most important points and cut out extraneous talking.

Motivation Theories

Empowerment strategies are based on many different theories, including (but not limited to) the theories listed here:

Need for autonomy (click here for video) (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000; Murray, 1938)
Control theories (Skinner, 1996)
Interest theories (click here for video) (Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Krapp, 2005; Schraw & Lehman, 2001)