Renee, I think the statement here in quotes says it all: "First of all, through active learning techniques, instructors force students into educational situations that make them think and not just memorize. Students must be able to read, write, discuss, reflect or be engaged in problem solving". More and more I see professionals that simply were never introduced to more of critical thinking and thus cannot respond to technical problem solving efforts they need to really provide that professional impact. The more we force the student into real active thinking the more they can have an impact to the corporate solutions.
Tomi,
Oh yes, students are always telling me that "professor so and so didn't know what he/she was doing with tech, etc". they might have known what they were doing but from the students standpoint, they didn't. Many times, I make sure to tell students WHY I am doing what I am doing because many cannot infer.
Renee Shaffer
Tomi,
Oh I love that statement. As a massage therapist, I don't heal but I help and guide the client heal. It is the same for me in education. Well said.
Renee Shaffer
I have always struggled with calling students customers in the traditional sense of the word. I mean, students do not always know what it is that they want and need to learn, and typically customers are believed to know what they want and need (customer is always right, as the saying goes). They are also assessed in a way that customers are traditionally not. I am a big fan of active learning and agree 100% on this approach but do not see students totally as customers. I do not see my job simply as a transaction between a service provider and a customer. Somehow I see the term customer as describing a transactional relationship. I think that there is more into this relationship and I see it much more as a relationship between a therapist and a client, or a mentor and a mentee.
I am not sure learning will always take place if the instructor performs very poorly. The performance of the instructor can be such an important factor in motivating students that very poor performance could demotivate them so badly that they simply quit.
When I was a psychotherapist many years ago my training analyst told me that "a good therapist does not take the responsibility of healing, it is the client's responsibility." At the time this sounded like a strange thing for a psychoanalyst to say, but I know understand what he meant by this. As a result, I have also applied this same principle to teaching, and reframed the statement into "good teacher does not take the responsibility of learning, it is the student's job." Ultimately, I can only be a guide through the journey of students' learning process. I can teach but I cannot learn for them. It is my role to make this learning process to occur and to ensure that the journey is fun and rewarding.
Elizabeth,
As a student who literally fell asleep in a lecture class and fell out of my chair into the aisle (early morning class, boring teacher), I am committed to keeping students engaged. I had enough self-esteem, to pick myself up and keep going but many students would never have come back to class and not succeeded.
Renee Shaffer
Tina,
That is so true that our experience in F2F teaching really helps us assess that students are learning. Good point!
Renee Shaffer
Hello Renee,
I think this is great! Education is headed in the right directions. I often times hated sitting in a lecture hall full of students listening to my instructor talk. I always wanted to be engaged. When I was engaged I learned more and the educational experience was a productive one as opposed to when I was just listening to a lecture. The later, always seemed like pulling teeth to me and I often times came back with nothing committed to my knowledge base.
Liz
Renee - Both the students and the instructors are challenged. Students are challenged to manage their learning, and instructors are challenged to assure that the students keep up with their work. In an online environment, I have found that my experience in F2F teaching has been essential. I have to know when the students are not understanding the concepts because they are not asking enough questions about a given topic.
Tina
Doris,
It is great that you work in a student-centered focused environment.
Renee Shaffer
In my opinion, for student centered learning the student needs to take full responsibility for his/her learning and experience that result from learning. With my current place of employment, student-centered approach is implemented in which it allows the student to develop their own learning goals.
In my opinion, for student centered learning the student needs to take full responsibility for his/her learning and experience that result from learning. With my current place of employment, student-centered approach is implemented in which it allows the student to develop their own learning goals.
Lisa,
Good work! I met a faculty member today who was saying that they themselves liked students who didn't want any interactivity as they didn't want any either. I cringed.
Renee Shaffer
I have been teaching online for 4 years and I am a positive advocate for student-centered learning. Having the student responsible for his/her own learning helps the student with other areas of life as well. Incorporating active learning in the online classroom facilitates the student's view of learning in the real world outside the educational institution and assists them to think critically and more effectively. I am a "doer" so I learn best by doing and I believe all people learn more when they are actively involved in a process. Activity helps to set the learning.
I think it far more exciting to be a facillitator vs. a traditional lecturer. The interaction among the students and with me as thier instructor brings an energy to the learning process. I learn new things everyday from my students. I also believe it helps students become more invested in their education and develop a life-long love of learning.
Jennifer,
Good thoughts. The one size fits all process doesn't even work when trying on clothes much less when working with learners!!
Renee Shaffer
The student-centered learning approach is more meaningful to students. Teaching and learning is not a "one-size fits all" process. When students take control over their learning they can relate content to their own personal goals, creating a stronger connection to the material and their comprehension of it.
The idea of moving the responsibility for Learning to the Student is very positive. As an Instructor it also creates an obligation on my part to support the student in this endeavor. I have to make sure that I am working to help the student to be effective. Learning will occur in-spite of a poor performance on my part. However, creating interesting and challenging learning opportunities and activities for the students will greatly enhance student achievement. We may shift the responsibility for learning to the student but the Instructor still retains an obligation to create an effective and efficient learning environment for the student.
Student-centered learning to include the followings tenets:
1. ‘the reliance on active rather than passive learning,
2. an emphasis on deep learning and understanding,
3. increased responsibility and accountability on the part of the student,
4. an increased sense of autonomy in the learner
5. an interdependence between teacher and learner,
6. mutual respect within the learner teacher relationship,
7. and a reflexive approach to the teaching and learning process on the part of both teacher and learner.’
