Every student that crosses the threshold of my classroom has a right to the best education available. As an instructor, my obligation is to make sure that I offer each student the opportunity to learn from my expertise. At the same time, I encourage them to particpate in the process by bringing their own professional experience into the classroom. This andragogical methodology is the only logical way to move the level of learning up.
The ultimate goal of teaching is to facilitate student learning. By being student-centered, you are placing the focus on the needs of the students and how they can become successful. It is the students learning that demonstrates a positive teaching experience. Without puting the student in the forefront you might miss the necessary steps to their success.
Hi Kenneth:
Thanks for the reference. I agree that once we begin to focus on the student rather than our instructuional hoops, the student will begin to learn more, based on their individual abilities.
Regards, Barry
This is powerful! It is all about student learning. A wonderful book written by Swen Nater, Ronald Gilmore, with a forward by Bill Walton titled "You haven't taught them until they have learned: John Wooden's Teaching Principles and Practices paints a picture of student-centered instruction. It also focuses on each individual student and leading that student to their maximum capabilities.
Hi Wendy:
You've nailed it! We want to try to view our instruction from the perspective of the nstudent, i.e., what can I do that will achieve the best outcomes.
Regards, Barry
I believe being a student-centered instructor will help me to have success in teaching by staying in touch with my current needs of each individual student. I am one who continually keeps up to date with my students progress day to day. Some of the students have not been in school for a long period of time and lack the study skills and the time management skills when they first arrive. I am the first instructor they have in the six modules and I feel it is very important for me to keep them focused early on and motivated to continue so they may be successful in the future.
Hi Michael:
To me student centered suggests every activity is targeting the student. This may include thinking how the student thinks, giving assignments that are appropriate for the student cohort currently being taught, being flexible with students (vs. rigid and immovable). I think it means trying to anticipate what acctivities and assignments I can give that help the student learn the most in the best way based on their abilities.
Regards, Barry
Knowin my strengths and weaknesses will allow me to bring excitment to the material by playing on my strengths and working to strenghtne the areas of weakness.
Hi Joycelyn:
I have taught and supervised many students and instructors in the online environment. We have to be student centered. In a way that's different from on-ground, I feel like online provides an advantage to other delivery formats because evrything we do centers around the student connection. That doesn't mean online is easier, or the course content is different, I just mean by virtue of the delivery process, nothing happens without the student's participation.
Regards, Barry
The students are adult learners with many backgrounds--some have come from management backgrounds. These students know that I am not here for my paycheck, and that we as instructors are motivated to change their lives and the lives of their families. One of the core values of our school is that the student is the customer.
Hi
Being a student-centered instructor will keep a strong focus on the needs of the students. Online instruction so distant through the medium of instruction that being student-centered is essential.
This process also allows for different abilities and learing styles of the students. Which is also greatly varied online.
Jocelyn Dervis
Hi Jon:
Focusing on the needs, perspective, and level the student is at gives the teacher much more control over their learning compared to what the teacher wants to provide without regard for the student.
Regards, Barry
being a student-centered instructor has helped me by teaching from the student piont of veiw i tend to be more complete in my lessons like i always tell them i am not any smarter than they are just experenced
Hi Ann:
I understand the challenge of teaching an academic, supporting class in a profession-specific program. You shared an important point that is applicablre to any class, and that is making it fun. Even the core classes should be interesting, exciting, and filled with stufdents eager to learn. Relating success stories of students you've had may also assist with these students feeling like your class is important to the big picture of employment.
Regards, Barry
Hi Ricardo:
I agree that knowing something about individual students learning style is helpful. Just as inportant is what to do with the information, i.e., how do you reach out to an auditory learner, or visual, or kinesthethic? There's lots of methods and proven techniques, but there's also trial and error that many teachers just have to experience to find what works for a given cohort of students.
Regards, Barry
I teach a class that most of the students in the school think is secondary. Most of them are afraid, uninterested or just think they won't do this in their careers. So I try to make it fun while showing them how much there is to know about the subject and try to show them that it is similar to what they are interested in, only a more scientific, exacting approach is needed.
Being a student centered instructor helps to focus on what really works for students, It helps understand the dynamycs of different learning styles and how one can aproach them in the most efficient manner.
Hi William:
Good thoughts. Personalizing the relationship with students is a great way to earn trust, demonstrate courtesy, exhibit empathy, and offer assistance to struggleing students. It's almost like being a parent and wanting to be a facilitator. Doesn't mean making things necessarily easier, just approaching the student as an individual for whom we care about.
Regards, Barry
If one has a sense of the students' goals and experiences, the students’ attention and enthusiasm can be harnessed--they are better able to learn in a positive environment that relates to their needs or interests. The students are the purpose for the class, so the teacher should select methods of instruction, and to some degree course content, to accommodate their needs.
