Balance of Burden
Hello,
I appreciate the essence of the "learning facilitator" approach (versus "teacher"), but I am frustrated by what appears to be a culture of "do it for me".
When I draw a picture of myself as a learner, there's nothing in it that resembles a learning facilitator who is responsible for helping me learn. My experience as a student was one of being fully responsible for my own learning - if I failed to progress, blame was put on my not having done the work or not having studied well.
In contrast, the large majority of the students in my classroom seem to believe that their failure to progress is always and entirely -my- fault. They regularly disregard assignments and suggestions - anything that asks them to work on their own is entirely dismissed.
Do you have any experience with a similar challenge? Any suggestions about how to encourage students to take fair responsibility for their own progress?
Thanks,
Stephen
Stephen,
this is definitely a significant challenge. I'm not sure if this is helpful, but one thing I try to do is really engage the students with the content. Through active questioning techniques & not allowing them to give easy answers, I try to get them involved. Hopefully this helps them find that interest & take ownership.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
