By being in-touch with the students an instructor can be a more effective in guiding the students learning.
Roderick,
Yeas - I use a method called "checking for understanding". As I proceed through the lesson, periodically I'll stop, and call on random students to answer one or more questions. I have a deck of cards with each students name, and draw names at random. Besides the process, what I find is I never get too deep into the lesson before I make sure everyone is on the same page, so to speak. If not, more explanation needed.
Barry Westling
As an instructor our focus at times can be easily turned to getting through the material that is required of the course. This however, does not always translate into learning and understanding by the students. By changing the focus from just getting through the material and becoming more focused on the students, their learning styles, their understanding of the material and their knowledge retention, I believe that you will have a more successful outcome for the class. This will in turn bring better results in getting through the material and better retention and application of the knowledge by the students.
Theresa,
Great example of a student-centered teacher activity!
Barry Westling
When you are a student centered instructor, you will be able to keep the student in mind in your delivery of your material; for example if power-point is an effective way for your students to learn the lesson and you can see they are grasping the information, by participating in the class discussion.
George,
I agree - teaching adults in career school environments requires traits and strategies different from that of K-12 level instruction. They want to see value; value in money they're paying; value in effort expected; and as you say, value in being assured we are there to help them learn material that will adequately prepare them for their career choice. So personalized instruction alongf with individual attention is needed and helpful to achieving the results everyone wants to see.
Barry Westling
Adult learners will respect a student-centered perspective more than one favoring traditional education. They'll want practical applications vs. knowledge "because you have to know this stuff." Gaining that respect is one of a career college instructor's biggest hurdles; it validates an adult learner's view of the instructor as well as (or, therefore) the lesson content.
It also makes tough content easier for the students to get a handle on; if they can see you are here to help them learn (vs. here to teach), they will better understand what is in it for them. Couple that with food rewards and you might even get good at training cats. :-)
Edward,
Personalization really takes effort but at it's core is what can make a class interesting, enjoyable, and meaningful.
Barry Westling
By staying student centered you are staying focused on what the student needs and fulfilling those needs to help him achieve his goals. By fulfilling his needs, you can create a student with a positive attitude, learns the material and how to aapply it in the real world and will reflect well on himself, the school and yourself.
Edward,
Great - and what's really cool is when students sense their teacher is interested in their success and pulling for them. It changes the "we vs them" to "us".
Barry Westling
I have taught in industry in the past but always had focused on the student was number one, and do what was necessary to help them achieve success. I used many techniques that I liked from other instructors over the years and generally had positive responses from students. Now I teach in a college and am applying the same principals. Its nice to see there is a name for the method as well as plentiful information available to add to my experience.
Jeffrey,
In my opinion, yes, student centered learning provides an opportunity to plan with creativity, reasoning, and stimulate critical thinking on an individual, personalized basis.
Barry Westling
It helps you organize and plan course conyent according to the type of students in your class
Thanks for the excellent info! I will definitely use small group discussions as I have not used this before.
Kay,
Great analogy to the purpose of student learning!
Barry Westling
In nursing, we always talk about patient centered care. It makes perfect sense to teach as a student centered instructor. Students are now "my patients". Thanks for this discussion.
Angela,
Great. Students should appreciate that personal touch.
Barry Westling
Kiona,
Kudo's for wnating to improve. I find there is always a core cuuriculum that needs to be met. How we achieve forms the students centerd format. Small group discussions, randomly asking questions of different students to checkj for understanding, and being available to work individually with students is a good start.
Barry Westling
The more centered you are on your students I find the more respect you get in return. First day of class I sit aside with my new students and intro myself, ask about the drive that brought them to my class and really get to know them.
I think that most people go into teaching b/c they have a desire to actually help students and have some kind of influence on the education of the new career professionals coming into the field. This is exactly why I came into teaching. The key now is to figuring out how to be a student-centered instructor for a variety of VERY different students. Any suggestions?
