The Changing Role of Students in a Learner-Centered

The Changing Role of Students in a LearnerCentered Environment

Professor Terry DoyleFaculty Center for Teaching and

Learning Ferris State [email protected]

Not a single grad school or employment

recruiter has ever indicated that what they

are really looking for in a college graduate is:

‘A great note taker and someone who is excellent at multiple choice tests!’

I share Zull’s view about faculty development

“ But revolution is not my goal. There is no reason to abandon good practices that cognitive science and education research have given us. Rather , I hope to deepen and enrich our understanding of these practices.”

James Zull, The Art of Changing the Brain

What is a representative definition of learner-centered teaching?

From Maryellen Weimer’s book Learner-Centered Teaching:

“

Being a learner-centered teacher meansfocusing attention squarely on the learningprocess: 1. What the student is learning2. How the student is learning3.The conditions under which the student is learning4. Whether the student is retaining and applying the learning5. How current learning positions the student for future learning.”

What the student is learning

What are our learning outcomes?

What would make us happy( from all that you taught—the skills, content and behaviors) that students remembered and could use six months after they left our class?


All faculty teach all of the following:SkillsBehaviorsContentThinking strategies

What should the role of content be in a learner centered classroom?


What we want the students to learn should determine what teaching strategies to select

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“Focusing on how people learn also will help teachers move beyond either-or dichotomies— it is not should facts be taught or should we be teaching problem solving and critical thinking, both are necessary—the learning of facts and skills is enhanced when attached to meaningful problem solving activities”( How People Learn, 2000)

1. Content drives the total learning process

Skills

Behaviors

Critical Thinking

Content

How thestudent is learning

1. What learning skills and strategies do students need to develop to be successful learners—long term and in your classes?

2. Are students aware of their own best learning methods/styles?

3. Are the assignments, activities and assessments designed to drive students’ learning?

Answer the following

Add 56 + 17 in your head.

www.vreemd.co.za/ art/angel_pondering.jpg

We don’t all Learn Alike

A--In columns like on paper

B—Added 10 to 56 and 7 to 66

C—Added 20 to 56 and subtracted 3

D—Rounded 56 to 60 added 17 and subtracted 4

Remember the following

4915802979

Patterns aid learning

(491) 580-2979

or

4,915,802,979

Remember the following

LSDNBCTVFBIUSA

Patterns aid learning

LSD NBC TV FBI USA

The conditions under whichthe student is learning

One of the most important jobs teachers have is to maintain the classroom learning environment so that it maximizes the opportunity for students to learn

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The conditions under whichthe student is learning

The norms established in classrooms have strong effects on students’ achievement.

If we want risk taking, open discussion and constructive criticism from our students the norms of the classroom must support these actions.( How People Learn p. 25)

Whether the student isretaining and applying the learning

Using the kinds of assessments that drive long term learning is one key to a learner centered process

We must do more than exercise our students’ working memories www.normanrockwellvt.com/ Plates/Cramming.JPG

How current learning positions students for future learning

What set of life long learning skills will our graduates possess?

www.goshen.edu/.cWtools/ download.php/mnF=life...

How current learning positions students for future learning

The first factor that influences successful transfer is degree of mastery of original subject. Without an adequate level of initial learning, transfer cannot be expected (How People Learn p.53)

Learner Centered Teaching

The question I ask all faculty is: Given the context of your teaching assignment, will the actions you take (teaching methods, assignments, activities or assessments) optimize students’ opportunities to learn?

Example of a Learner Centered Decision

Setting our office hours at times that are best for our students

www.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/ institut/lsmair...

The Definition of Learning

Learning is a change in the neuro-patterns of the brain

(Ratey, 2002)

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What do I mean by learning?

Learning is the ability to use information after

significant periods of disuse

and

it is the ability to use the information to solve problems that arise in a context different (if only slightly) from the context in which the information was originally taught.

(Robert Bjork, Memories and Metamemories 1994)

All of this new knowledge requires a change

from the traditional “stand-in-front-of-the-room and-talk” education that higher education has been using since the 14th century.

(Peter Smith, The Quiet Crises in Higher

Education)

Time for a Change

How do Faculty Change Their Role to help Students Learn in a Learner Centered Classroom?

Who Makes the Decision?Teacher Students Together NA

1. Course Textbook 2. Number of exams 3. When in the course exams will be given 4. Attendance policy 5. Late work policy 6. Late for class policy 7. Course learning outcomes 8. Office hours 9. Due dates for major papers 10. Teaching methods/approaches 11. How groups are formed 12. Topic of writing or research projects 13. Grading scale 14. Discussion guidelines for large or small group discussions 15. Rubrics for evaluation of self or peers work

Step One

Ask: What do I need to control to effectively

teach this course and what can I give over to the students?

How can I create real community in the classroom?

How can I get students to take more responsibility for their learning?

Step Two

Ask: “Why am I telling them this?” (John Tagg, The Learning Paradigm College, 2003)

One definition of effective lecture is telling students about things they can’t learn on their own.

Step Two

Books and lectures can be wonderfully efficient modes of transmitting new information for leaning, exciting the imagination, and honing students critical faculties—but one would chose other kinds of activities to elicit from students their preconceptions and level of understanding or to help them see the power of metacognitive strategies.( How People Learn p.22)

Step Three

More clearly define what it is that we want our students to learn within the context of the definition of learning.

Explain to students how a learner-centered approach is in harmony with current research about how people learn. “The one who does the talking, does the

learning.” --Thomas Angelo

Step Four Explain WHY

Why is this important for future learning

WHY I am facilitating and not lecturing

WHY to use this thinkingprocess

WHY to use this learning strategy

WHY think in a particular way

WHY solve a

problem a certain way

WHY I am not giving

any more direction that I have

WHY I want you

to do this in groups or on your

own

WHY these skills are needed?

Step Five Get Students’ Feedback

Seeking ongoing formative

feedbackfrom students is a

win-win activity

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SGID Questions

Ask around the fifth or sixth week of the semester

1. What do you like about the course?

2. What would you change about the course?

3. What would you delete from the course?

Get Students to use the Feedback

Require students to summarize written comments on papers and explain how the feedback will be used to improve the next paper.

Retest and rewrite—have students use feedback on errors to correct them

Why must the learning roles of students change?

1. Research tells us that to really learn something takes attention, time, practice, effort, reflection, connection and application -- learning is not short-term regurgitation. (James Ratey. Users Guide to the Brain)

2. Research tells us that unless the learner is actively engaged in the learning process, no change occurs in the neuro-networks of the brain. (R. Sylwester, A Celebration of Neurons, 1995)

Why must students’ role change?

Knowing has shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to being able to find and use it—more than ever the sheer magnitude of human knowledge renders its coverage by education an impossibility (Nobel laureate Herbert Simon)

In many areas what is taught is fluid and changing. (Jim Carroll )


Students must come to realize the role of

content must be to drive the development of the

life long learning skills, thinking abilities and

communication skills that are crucial to success

in a fast-paced, changing world.

THIS IS A NEW VIEW FOR THEM!


4. Professions, careers and jobs require people that can (for example)

A. Effectively communicate in a wide variety of

ways with very diverse populations - this is why students need to talk and listen to each other.


B. Use information to solve problems that will occur in different contexts than the context used by the teacher during instruction in college

C. Transference of information to solving new problems (that have yet to even be discovered) is the life-long skill learners need.

D. Use reasoning skills that require addressing multiple pieces of data at once.


E. Each patient, each client, and each customer will be different.

These kinds of skills and abilities can only be

learned by active engagement in authentic,

often firsthand, learning experiences.

The professor cannot teach them to students just using lecture.

How do faculty help students to change?

Let the students do the work Firsthand learning, self-discovery, self-

assessment, performance, teams, and groups all enhance the opportunity for deep learning.

Abide by the definition of lecture and choose activities that present multi-sensory engagement which improves the chances for connections to background


Let discussion occur between students - keep our mouths shut!


3. Address students’ Self Theories Dispel the myth of the entity theorist - intelligence is

NOT fixed at birth. (C. Dweck, 2000)

Help students to see that effort results in improved intelligence and abilities - effort is not a sign of being stupid.

Help them to see failure as just one step in the path to success. For example, Thomas Edison.


4. Share more of the responsibility with them for their learning.

Make them teach each other, perform for each other and critique each other.

Explain the value of group work - the diverse points of view that you as a lecturer cannot provide them.

Mutually set the rules for the class - attendance, due dates, late policies.


Give them learning activities that are A-R-I-I

Authentic - academic service learning, internships, clinical experience, field trips, conferences, job shadowing, client work and real world problems


B. RelevantGuest Speakers from their fields of interest.

Former students that sat where they are sitting.

Map the connections between all of the coursesin their area of study

Map the connections between the skills they are learning in one class and where these skills will be used in future classes.

Tell them WHY

Creating Relevance for Learning Activities

1. Place learning activities in the context of current knowledge of how the human brain learns

2. Place learning activities in the context of how they aid in the preparation for careers

3. Place learning activities in the context of life long learning

4. Place learning in the context of immediate future learning—the next course, next year etc.


C. Interesting

a. Find out what interests them – students are motivated - teachers need to discover what is motivating them.

b. When ever possible give them a choice in what the learning activities will be/how they can show what they have learned.


C. Important

a. No busy work.

b. Explain the importance of the work.

c. Value the work assigned.

Example: Class discussion-if you want them involved they need to know you

value it by grading it.


6. Don’t give in to the students’ initial whining, complaining and unhappiness.

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Change is very difficult for students. Learner-

centered practice goes against 12 or more

years or beliefs that school is about teacher

control and student submission - it is not easy

for students to give up their motto:

“Tell me what to do.”

What are the students’ new roles?

1. Students must become incremental theorists.

a. Value Effort

b. Seek feedback

c. Study for learning, not tests

d. Use failure as a step towards success


1. Must learn to accept the new responsibility given to them for their own learning.

a. Professor is not going to give you all the answers.

b. Professor may not tell you exactly what to do.


3. They will have to work with others.

a. Learning is a social/emotional process.

b. Most learning occurs in community.

c. Professionals rarely operate solo.


3.

Build on their strengths and work to improve their weaknesses.

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5. They will have to spend more time learning on their own.

Professors only have students in class 1.7% of the time each week. (3 credit class)


5. They will share in many of the roles of the professor.

a. Facilitator

b. Instructor

c. Organizer

d. Performer

e. Leader

f. Evaluator


7. They will have to be able to demonstrate a more complete understanding of what they have learned.

The professor will not be the only judge of theirwork - they will have “real” audiences toconvince.

Traditional Roles Roles

Take lecture notes

Listen in Class

Read the textbook

Read other assigned reading

Take tests and quizzes

Take part in recitation Do homework

Take part in whole class Discussion Write papers on assigned topics Memorize Organize information

Traditional responsibilities

Work mostly alone

Seek out the teacher if You had questions

Read independently

Develop own studyhabits

Develop own timemanagement program

Learner Centered Student Roles Learner-Centered Student Responsibilities

Self-teachCollaborate with othersWork in teams/groupsTake part in discovery learningTeach othersEvaluate own learningEvaluate others’ learningPerform/present learning publiclyLearn new “how to learn skills and strategies”Solve authentic problemsEngage in reflectionDemonstrate use of teacher feedback to improve performanceTake learning risksPractice moreTake class notesListen in ClassRead the textbookWrite papersTake tests and quizzesTake part in recitationDo homework

Make choices about own learning

Take more control of ownlearning

Give input to the evaluation/ assessment methods

Give input to course rules andguidelines

Give formative feedback on learning

Spend more time outside of class learning

Working with people not in yourclass

References

Angelo, T.A. & Cross, P.K. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques, 2nd Edition. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass

Bjork, R.A. (1994). Memory and Metamemory Considerations in the Training of Human Beings. In J. Metcalfe and A. Shimamura (Eds.) Metacognition: Knowing About Knowing. (pp. 185-205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Givens, Barbara, Teaching to the Brain’s Natural Learning Systems, ASCD Publications, 2002.

Ratey, John. A User’s Guide to the Brain. Pantheon Books, New York, 2001.

Sousa, David. How the Brain Learns, 2nd Edition. Ed 2001 Corwin Press, INC, Thousand Oaks, CA

References

Rethinking Teaching in Higher Education, Edited by Alenoush Saroyan, Cheryl Amundsen, Stylus Pub.2004

Sprenger, Marilee. How to Teach so Students Remember. ASCD Publication, 2005.

Sylwester, Robert. A Celebration of Neurons: An Educator’s Guise to the Human Brain. ASCD Publication, 1995.

Zull, James. (2002), The Art of Changing the Brain. Sterling, Cirginia: Stylus Publishing.

Tagg, John. The Learning Paradigm College. Anker Publishing , Bolton MA 2003

Covington, M. V. (2000) Goal , theory motivation and school achievement: An Integrated review in Annual Review of Psychology ( pp 171-200)

Dweck, Carol ( 2000) Self Theories: Their roles in motivation, personality and development. Philadelphia, PA Psychology Press

References How People Learn by National Research Council editor John

Bransford, National Research Council, 2000 Goldberg, E. The Executive Brain Frontal Lobes and the Civilized

Mind ,Oxford University Press: 2001 Ratey, J. MD :A User’s Guide to the Brain, Sprenger, M. Learning

and Memory The Brain in Action by, ASCD, 1999 Pantheon Books: New York, 2001 Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes' error: Emotion, reason,

and the human brain. New York, NY, Grosset/Putnam Damasio AR: Fundamental Feelings. Nature 413:781, 2001. Damasio AR: The Feeling of What Happens: Body and

Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, Harcourt Brace, New York, 1999, 2000.

References

Weimer, Maryellen, 2002, Learner Centered Teaching, Jossey Bass, San Francisco.

Smith, Peter, 2004. The Quiet Crisis; How Higher Education is Failing America, Anker Publishing, Bolton MA

(Barbara L. Mcombs & Jo Sue Whistler, The Learner-Centered Classroom & School, 1997)

The Changing Role of Students in a Learner-Centered

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