How Can Instructors Support Students’ Self-efficacy?

This short blog post starts with an overview of self-efficacy, then unpacks a simple classroom study that shows the potential impact of supportive instructor communication.

This guide provides a clear introduction to the concept of self-efficacy, how instructors can support it, and examples and counterexamples. The guide is pitched broadly but with examples for science educators. 

This overview gives five clear descriptions of how instructors can help increase student self-efficacy, even when it feels like other factors are beyond our control. It also includes great links out to related resources.

This self-described "best practices" handbook is easy to parse and includes concrete teaching practices as they relate to the key components of student self-efficacy: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, and social persuasion.

This study from astronomy supports the connection between student self-efficacy and learning. It includes examples from multiple instructors and describes in a narrative fashion how some instructors successfully enhanced students’ self-efficacy and knowledge while others did not.