Back from “guide on the side” to “sage on the stage”? Effects of teacher-guided and student-activating teaching methods on student learning in higher education

This field study compares the effectiveness of teacher-guided and student-activating teaching methods. Expert observations of 80 university courses were combined with self-report data from 1713 students attending the courses. Controlling for students’ initial interest on the individual level and for course format, homework, and initial interest on the course level, two-level path analyses with the amount of teacher-guided and student-activating methods as predictors, and students’ final interest, subjective learning achievement, and perceived development of academic competencies as criteria – all mediated by the students’ cognitive involvement – revealed opposing effects of the two methods. Teacher-guided methods were associated with an increase in students’ cognitive involvement, interest, learning achievement, and development of academic competencies, whereas student-activating methods tended to show negative effects.