Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lana Shamanaeva
American Studies Department
actively seeking new information, integrating it with what is known, organizing it in a meaningful way, and explaining it to others.
Huba and Freed, Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses: Shifting the Focus from Teaching to Learning, 2000, p. 35.
Do you apply learner-centered techniques or approach in your classes? What changes can make our courses more learner-centered?
chooses the topic? Who chooses the activities? Who prepares the material for the activities? Who do the students speak to mostly? Who chooses group members? Who gives the instructions and explanations?
asks questions, responds, and gives feedback? Who writes on the board? Who uses equipment? Who answers questions asked by the students?
Learner-Centered Teaching
Five Key Changes to Practice Maryellen Weimer
Balance of power Function of content Role of teacher Responsibility for learning Evaluation purpose and process
Balance of power
Content
Calendar
Assignments Policies Grading
Student involvement
The task The unit The book The course book & other activities
The syllabus
The curriculum
Arising questions
How
much power is enough for motivating one student vs. motivating the whole class? How much freedom can students handle? Can we give decision-making differentially?
Function of content
Dichotomous
Arising questions
How
much content is enough? What to do with students at different skill levels? How to adapt generic learning activities to fit the content I teach?
Role of teacher
Knowledge
transmission
Learning
facilitation
5.
6. 7.
Ts Ts Ts Ts Ts Ts Ts
do learning tasks less do < telling; Ss do > discovering do > design work do > modeling involve Ss in collaborative work > create climates for learning provide > formative feedback
Arising questions
Should
you intervene, and if so, when? What do you do when you intervene?
5.
Autonomous, self-regulated, selfmonitored learners Extrinsic motivators Logical consequences, not discipline Rationale behind the assignment Resistance
Arising questions
How
many consequences should students be allowed to experience? How do these consequences influence students of different types? Is there any legitimate place for teacherimposed structure or sanctions when the environment is truly learner-centered?
Arising questions
Should
Implementing LCT
Changes
in one dimension will lead to changes in another dimension You can start anywhere
You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.
It is the teachers job to put salt in the oats so that once the horse got to water, it was damn thirsty.