Assessing the Degree of Learner-Centeredness - Faculty Focus

Menu

Home Articles Educational Assessment Assessing the Degree of Learner-Centeredness

AUGUST 6TH, 2010

Assessing the Degree of LearnerCenteredness

By: Michael Harris, PhD, and Roxanne Cullen, PhD
Add Comment

Since Barr and Tagg introduced the concept of the instructional versus the learnercentered paradigms in 1995, higher education institutions across the country have
adopted the concept in one form or another in an attempt to create learning
environments that respond both to the changing profile of our students and recent
research on learning with the ultimate goal of improving student success.
Many institutions have made incremental progress in moving away from an
instructional model that views learning as a passive, receptive act on the part of the
student, a model that favors competition over cooperation, individual achievement over collaboration, and
divisiveness and control over individual differences and choice. We talk about developing learnercenteredness at our institutions that is characterized by a new focus on active learning, collaboration, and
engagement. The focus, however, has been almost exclusively on what the faculty need to achieve. Little
has been said in regard to the role that academic leaders need to play to foster a true, comprehensive,
systemic shift in paradigms.
The term paradigm shift was originally used by Thomas Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
(1962) to refer exclusively to scientific theory. Since then its use has become more generic, referring to
radical changes in thought that require individuals to completely re-envision systems or organizations. We

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/assessing-the-degree-of-learner-centeredness/[9/16/2015 5:14:34 PM]

Assessing the Degree of Learner-Centeredness - Faculty Focus

tend to use the term so generically now that we lose sight of the magnitude of the concept. To us, the word
shift makes the challenge of radical change seem too easy, like shifting gears on a bicycle. Shifting gears on
bicycles allows riders to maintain their cadence uninterrupted as the terrain becomes more difficult. This
is most definitely not how shifting paradigms works. Our cadences will be interrupted. Shifting paradigms
is unbalancing and unsettling because it is about shifting thinking and attitudes. It is an organizational
metamorphosis requiring all parties to change, to alter our cadences in response to the new landscape or
else fall off our bikes. The shift is not exclusively about classroom practices, and academic leaders have an
important role to play in bringing it about.
There are two fundamental concerns for leadership in this enterprise. First is the need to transform
administrative approaches to be consistent with the values of the new paradigm. Second is for leadership
to lead the way by encouraging, promoting, and supporting the learner-centered agenda, ensuring that
policies and practices do not impede progress in order that a true learner-centered institutional culture
becomes a reality. This process will be a personal challenge as well as an institutional one. It will call for
leaders who can envision the goal while implementing practices that will drive the change in very practical,
identifiable ways.
In our roles as academic leaders, we need to take steps to foster and even push the shift toward learnercenteredness, guiding the efforts of faculty who are making attempts to transform their practices and
providing support to encourage change. But to do so we need mechanisms to assess our current academic
environment in order to have a clear understanding of where we are and the steps that will be involved in
making progress toward the ultimate goal.
Great strides have already been made in assessing features such as student engagement, one of the features
of the new paradigm. The National Survey of Student Engagement is now used by 610 campuses to help
them assess good practices in undergraduate education. Other features of the learning-centered paradigm
do not have large-scale assessment mechanisms readily available. Until that time, individual efforts at
developing assessment of learning-centeredness are necessary. Toward that end, we have developed a
mechanism for assessing the degree of learner-centeredness in a unit/department using course syllabi and
a rubric that we developed for this purpose.
Right now, if asked about the state of learner-centeredness in a department or unit, we can usually point to
individual faculty members who are making significant changes in teaching practices and experimenting
with innovative strategies. We may also be able to point to new technology or new policies that show
progress toward making the shift, but we rarely have data that clearly delineates department/unitwide the
areas of success or areas of need when it comes to the distinctive features of learner-centered pedagogy.
Excerpted from Assessing the Degree of Learner-Centeredness in a Department or Unit, Academic Leader, April 2009.

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/assessing-the-degree-of-learner-centeredness/[9/16/2015 5:14:34 PM]

Assessing the Degree of Learner-Centeredness - Faculty Focus

Start your free subscription to Faculty Focus!

Enter your email address here...

Sign up today and get articles like this one
delivered right to your inbox.

Sign Up

Add Comment

Posted in Educational Assessment

Tagged with active learning, assessment, educational assessment standards, educational assessment tools,
learner-centered, learning-centered, student-centered learning, Student-Centered Teaching

Login

Comments
There are no comments posted yet. Be the first one!

Post a new comment

Enter text right here!

Comment as a Guest, or login:

Name

Email

Displayed next to your comments.

Not displayed publicly.

Subscribe to

None
None

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/assessing-the-degree-of-learner-centeredness/[9/16/2015 5:14:34 PM]

Submit Comment

Assessing the Degree of Learner-Centeredness - Faculty Focus

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTER!

First Name
Last Name
Email
You have our promise not to sell or share your email address ever!

Sign up!

TOPICS:
Academic Leadership
Asynchronous Learning and Trends
Blended and Flipped Learning
Curriculum Development
Distance Learning Administration
EdTech News and Trends
Educational Assessment
Effective Classroom Management
Effective Teaching Strategies
Faculty Development
Faculty Evaluation
Instructional Design
Learning Styles

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/assessing-the-degree-of-learner-centeredness/[9/16/2015 5:14:34 PM]

Assessing the Degree of Learner-Centeredness - Faculty Focus

Online Education
Philosophy of Teaching
Teaching and Learning
Teaching Careers
Teaching Professor Blog
Teaching with Technology

You might also like:

Survey Finds Learner-Centered Teaching Up, Lecturing

Down

Learning from Experience

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/assessing-the-degree-of-learner-centeredness/[9/16/2015 5:14:34 PM]

Assessing the Degree of Learner-Centeredness - Faculty Focus

Learning from Experience

Home

Taking a Learner-Centered Approach in Online Courses

| White Papers | Online Seminars | Online Courses | 20 Minute Mentor | Newsletters | Conferences |

About Us

| Browse Topics | Faculty Focus Articles | RSS Feed | Privacy Policy | Rights & Permissions |

Submission Guidelines

2015 Faculty Focus

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/assessing-the-degree-of-learner-centeredness/[9/16/2015 5:14:34 PM]