“Instructional disobedience”: a largely neglected phenomenon deserving more systematic research attention

Abstract

Education is characterized by at least the following features: (a) it offers learning environments that help students to achieve preset goals, (b) it induces learners to engage in relevant learning tasks, and (c) it offers support while learners execute learning tasks. Offering learning environments builds on the assumption that learners will actually engage in the learning tasks and use the support provided. There is, however, growing evidence (e.g., Almeda, Baker, & Corbett, 2017; Koc & Liu, 2016), that in a lot of cases students do not comply with that assumption. By not engaging as expected in the learning tasks and/or by not (adequately) using the support, learners reveal the phenomenon of what could be called-at least from the perspective of the (designer of the) learning environment-'instructional disobedience'. 'Instructional disobedience' occurs when learners do not act as expected from them in a learning environment.

The effects of self-regulation and instructional control on learning behaviour and performance of undergraduate nursing students

“…No differences in exam results were found based on instructional strategy meaning we cannot confirm our hypothesis that ML leads to superior learning outcomes. The fact that there was no difference in the test scores of students between instructional conditions, while the activities of these students significantly differed, seems to be illustrative of what Elen [4] has called "instructional disobedience". This indicates that while the quantity of learning activity can be influenced relatively easily through the design of the learning environment, the quality is not.…”

Fostering students’ motivation towards learning research skills: the role of autonomy, competence and relatedness support

“…Based on students’ qualitative feedback, we have reasons to believe that students did not always work in the learning environment as we would want them to do. Thus, students did not interact with the need support in the intended way (‘instructional disobedient behavior’: Elen, 2020 ). For example, several students reported that they did not always read all the material, did not make use of the forum, or did not notice certain messages from the researcher.…”

“…Secondly, this study clearly elaborates on the operationalizations of need support used, and as such, might inform instructional designers in order to implement need support in an integrated manner (including competence, relatedness and autonomy support). Future interventions might want to track and monitor students’ learning behavior in order for students to interact with the learning environment as expected (Elen, 2020 ). Thirdly, this study established theoretical relationships between students’ needs, motivation and cognitive outcomes, which might be useful information for researchers aiming to investigate students’ motivation towards learning research skills in the future.…”

Activity-Centred Analysis and Design (ACAD): Core purposes, distinctive qualities and current developments

“…We use the term ‘activity’ to mean ‘what students are actually doing’ – mentally, physically and emotionally – during a period of time in which they are meant to be learning something (a learning episode or ‘at learn-time’). For better or worse, what students actually do may differ considerably from what their teachers think they are doing or what their teachers intend them to do (Goodyear 2000 ; Ellis and Goodyear 2010 ; Elen 2020 ; Koh and Kan 2020 ).…”