The authors discuss the relationship between teaching transparency and active learning through the perspectives of their students. Active learning directly engages students in the learning process while transparency involves the instructor's divulgence of logic regarding course organization and activity choices. After utilizing these teaching techniques, four instructors collected feedback regarding students' positive and negative perceptions of both the activity and the transparency. The responses were overwhelmingly positive and indicate that students found that transparency gave them a better sense of purpose, motivation, clarity and connection to course objectives. In conclusion, we discuss ways in which the student feedback is essential for instructors' reflection on teaching.