Designing Courses for Autonomy Support: A Practical Framework Inspired by Self-Determination Theory for Motivation

This research-to-practice paper presents a framework that breaks down the complex constructs of learner autonomy and instructor autonomy support into actionable course design and pedagogical decisions. Grounded in self-determination theory for motivation and self-regulated learning theory, the framework encourages instructors to consider various areas of learner autonomy along a spectrum from teacher-controlled to student-controlled. By conceptualizing autonomy as a range of course design options, the framework enables instructors to creatively envision different ways to promote learners' internalized engagement and motivation through autonomy support. In this study, the framework is applied to the design and assessment of two project-based engineering science courses that offer learners structure alongside different forms and levels of autonomy. Findings show that the instructor's intentional design decisions regarding student choice and control prompted a strong sense of autonomy and high perceived instructor autonomy support among students. As predicted by SDT, autonomy and autonomy support showed significant positive correlations with identified regulation and intrinsic motivation, two forms of internalized drive. Results suggest that the autonomy framework may offer utility value to any instructor seeking to promote student choice and internalized control within the practical constraints commonly associated with college courses.