Learner-Centered Teaching Notes

Learning: Modification of one's behavior through practice, training, and experiences.
Teaching: Activities designed and performed to produce change in student behavior.

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein

Goals:
- Produce learners who are good critical thinkers, problem solvers, and creative thinkers.
- Enable learners to make sense of information (rather than just memorize it) in the face of an information explosion.
- Improve student engagement and ownership of learning.
Research-supported outcomes:
- Increased student engagement with the content.
- Deep learning.
- Long-term retention.
- Acquisition of critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.
- Positive attitude toward the subject being taught.
- Confidence in knowledge or skills.

If learners have zero prior knowledge:
- Provide materials that learners can access to obtain information about the topic.

Shifts the focus of activity from the teacher to the learners.
Emphasizes what the learner does, not what the teacher does.
Focuses on skills and practices in lifelong learning, creative thinking, and independent problem-solving.
Insists that learners actively construct their own knowledge.

Learner-centered learning works best through pair and group work.
Students have equal responsibility for performing a task and find it difficult to "hide" in a small group.

Teacher-Centered:
- Controlled Learning
- Lecture/Discussion
- Passive Learning
Learner-Centered:
- Active Learning
- Experience
- Authentic Learning
- Collaboration

Personalized teaching and learning.
Considers individual students' interests and aspirations.
Teachers have the option of structuring the learning environment to suit themselves and their students.
Teachers make optimal use of available facilities.
Learners have acquired knowledge and skills.
Learners have the flexibility to learn.
Learners need to have a clear idea.
Instructions must be easy to understand and comprehensive.
When students evaluate their own work, it helps them master the subject.
Students working in groups are more involved in activities because there are opportunities for discussion and assisting peer students.
Students can work on various activities according to their own needs and interests.
Learning centered adaptable instructional tool

Permits opportunities to connect the content to real-life.
Provides opportunities for higher-order thinking as opposed to passive listening.
Promotes greater learner-teacher and learner-learner interaction.
Increases student retention.
Improves students’ self-esteem.
Provides for improvement of social interaction skills, greater acceptance of others, and a greater sense of “community” in class.
Encourages alternative forms of assessment.
Encourages innovation in both teaching and student involvement.

Element	Teacher-Centered	Student-Centered
Knowledge	Transmitted from instruction	Constructed by Students
Student Participation	Passive	Active
Role of Lecturer	Leader/Authority	Facilitator/Partner in Learning
Role of Assessment	Few Tests, Mainly for Grading	Many Tests for Ongoing Feedback
Emphasis	Learning Correct Answers	Developing Deeper Understanding
Assessment Method	One-Dimensional Testing	Multidimensional Testing
Academic Culture	Competitive, Individualistic	Collaborative and Supportive

After the learning process, both the teacher and students evaluate their own learning achievement.
There will always be two-way communication in the class.

Group Presentation:
- Discuss 3 teaching strategies applicable to the learner-centered approach.
- Identify its advantages and disadvantages.