Empowering Students: Class-Generated Course Rules

After we gave 2 classes of introductory psychology students the syllabus, the first class (the experimental group) generated rules for classroom behavior. The instructor presented the second class (the comparison group) with the list of rules and said they were instructor generated. Students rated the rules, several aspects of the course, and the instructor. The comparison group (n = 88) reported higher frequencies of negative behavior by class members. Students in the experimental class (n = 62) rated the instructor more positively. The groups did not differ in grades, perceived fairness, or perceived importance of the rules.