Fostering student motivation through inductive learning and industry cooperation

The challenge presented here is how to motivate students to promote active learning. The method used is constructive alignment (Biggs & Tang, 2007) of learning objectives, learning and evaluation along with further considerations including which competences are promoted. The case presented is from a Master course, which is organised around two projects: a feasibility study and a national energy system analysis.

The course is taught using the principle of inductive learning (Prince & Felder, 2006) with the students being presented with the case from the beginning and subsequently achieving the tools to perform the projects. This is both frustrating and motivating for the students as they know why they need to have the tools, but they feel they get them too late.