There is no doubt that most academics have an overarching goal that is to develop their students into self-directed and autonomous learners. Evidence from the literature on contract learning suggests that learning contracts (LCs) are effective in developing students into self-directed learners (Abdullah & Yih, 2014; McNamara, 2019; Lamiri et al., 2022).
In general, a learning contract is an agreement between the instructor and student that establishes the nature of the relationship, the objectives of the learning experience, the activities to accomplish the learning objectives, and the means by which the educational effort will be evaluated. In what follows,
I discuss my experience with using LCs in teaching Economics to a large class of first-year (level 4) Business Management students at Queen Mary University of London.
Students gain access to course materials on a dedicated Moodle course page that initially shows basic course information (such as syllabus, assessments, office hours, and so on) and a learning contract. Students do not have access to weekly learning resources until after they sign up to the LC. The LC states ‘terms and conditions’ of taking the course, and sets transparent expectations for students.
