helping students learn in a learner centered environment october 2010

8/8/2019 Helping Students Learn in a Learner Centered Environment October 2010

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Helping Students Learn in a

Learner Centered EnvironmentDeveloped for MCC by Professor Terry Doyle

Ferris state University


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Learning Outcomes

As a result of participating in todays activities faculty will:1. Have a clearer understanding of the reasons most students resist

learner centered teaching.

2. Take away rationales explaining why LCT is the bestapproach to college instruction.

3. Have a clearer understanding of the skills students will need to be

successful learners in a LCT environment.

4. Take away strategies for teaching students the learning

skills and strategies they will need to be successful in LCTenvironment.


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Not a single grad school or employment

recruiter has ever indicated that what they arereally looking for in a college graduate is:

A great note taker and someone who isexcellent at multiple choice tests!


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Learner Centered Teaching


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This can be



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A Key to Understanding Learner

Centered Teaching

It is the one who does the work

that does the learning

www.wmin.ac.uk/.../Students-working-together.jpg


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The Definition of Learning

Learning is a change

in the neuron-patterns of the brain.

(Ratey, 2002, Goldberg, 2001)

www.virtualgalen.com/.../ neurons-small.jpg


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A Teachers Definition of Learning

Learning is the ability to use information after

significant periods of disuse

and

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

(Robert Bjork, Memories and Metamemories, 1994)


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What is the optimal learning outcome of any course?

What would make us happy (from all that we

taughtthe skills, content and behaviors) that our

students remembered and could use six months

after they finished our class?


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A Definition of



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Each decision we make as teachers is basedon one simple question

Given the context of my teachingassignment (# of students, learningenvironment or physical space etc.), will

this teaching action optimize my studentsopportunities to learn?


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Eight Reasons Students

Resist LearnerCentered Teaching


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1.Old habits die hard

The expectations our students have for their

roles and responsibilities as college learners

are based on strongly formed habits learned

through twelve or more years of teacher-

centered instruction.


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2.High Schools Remain Teacher-Centered Institutions

Despite the efforts of many, the organization and

structure of most comprehensive high schools look

very similar to those of high schools of generations

ago. High schools have stood still amidst a maelstromof educational and economic change swirling around

them. (TheNational Commission on the High School Senior Year in 2001, p.20).


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3. Learning is not a Top Reason Students give for

Attending College

Many first-year college

students are sick to

death of school by age

eighteen and see

college as just the last

hurdle to be crossed.(Leamnson 1999, p.35).


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4. Students dont Like Taking Learning Risks

But as we grow older we develop a great

tendency to hide from failure.(Tagg, 2003 p. 54).


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4. Students dont Like Taking Learning

Risks

Students that dont take risks and make

mistakes, which are the very actions

successful thinkers must do, are in the

business of protecting their unblemished

record of mediocrity (Covington, 1992, p. 231)


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5. LCT Doesnt Resemble what Students Think of as

School

By age 18, our students have spent 70% of

their waking lives in school (Leamnson, p.35),

Each school year looks a great deal like the

year before.

First

Grade

Fifth

Grade

Eighth

Grade

Twelfth

Grade


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6. Students dontWant to Give More Effort and LCT

Requires It.

K. Patricia Cross in her 2001 talk Motivation Er will that be on the

test? in discussing American students views about effort said:

One of the oddities of traditional American culture,

especially the youth culture, is that it is better to bethought lazy than stupid. Thus, in the competition of

the classroom, students prefer to be seen by others

as succeeding through ability rather than through

effort.


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If I have to work at it I

must not be smart !


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7. Students Mindsets about Learning Make Adapting to

LCT More Difficult

Thousands of students each semester pay tuition to

take courses in subject areas they firmly believe they

cannot learn.


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7. Students Mindsets about Learning

Make Adapting to LCT More Difficult

This strange scenario occurs because of the

fixed mindset these students have developed

about learning a particular subject. (Dweck, 2006)


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8. Many Students Follow the Path of Least

Resistance in their Learning.

Minimalist learners.

These are students that adhere to thephilosophy: What is the least I have to do to

get the grade that I need.


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8. Many Students Follow the Path of Least Resistance

in their Learning.

This behavior reflect a life time of learning

in an environment where trying to gain a

reward or avoid a punishment was the

goal.


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Why Learner

Centered Teaching isin our Students Best

Interest


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Students need to KnowWHY

One of the most

important aspects of

being a learner

centered teacher is toremember teaching is,

in most ways, no

different than any other

human to humaninteraction


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If I dont knowWHY you want me to work on

a project or learn a concept or if I cant see

how taking on a certain task has some benefit

to me I am hesitant to do it.


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3 Key Rationales for Explaining the Change to LCT

1. The best answer toWHY we have changedto a learner-centered practice is this is where

the research has led us.

.


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WHY Learner Centered Teaching

New discoveries about how the human brain

learns and the subsequent recommendations

for how to teach in harmony with these

discoveries has guided the development of a

learner centered approach to teaching


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Rationales for Explaining the Change to LCT

The learning tasks we

are asking our students

to take on, which

require them to adoptnew learning roles and

responsibilities, are

based on what we now

know optimizes the waythe human brain learns.


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3 Key Rationales for Explaining the Change to LCT

2. Readiness for Careers

The rationale for teaching many of the learning skills,behaviors, attitudes and critical thinking strategies thatare now part of learner centered college courses isthat our students will need these skills to be successfulin their careers.

As students understand this their buy in to LCT will begreater.


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3. Preparation for Life Long Learning(LLL)

One of the significant changes our students need to accept isthat college is no longer their terminal educationalexperience.

A college education gives students their learners permit.


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3. Preparation for Life Long

Learning(LLL)

Our responsibility as

college educators is to

prepare our students to

be life long learners.

Many of the LCT actions

we take are done to

develop LLL skills.


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For Example

One of the reasons

students are beingasked to take on moreresponsibility for theirown learning is because

they will be responsiblefor it the rest of theirlives.


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LCT means Sharing Power with Students

Having choices in what and how to learn and having

some control over the learning process and

accepting the responsibility that comes with choice

and control is an authentic expression of how thework place and the home place operate.

It is excellent preparation for life after college.


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Eight Skill AreasStudents Will

Need Help withto Succeed in a

LCT Classroom


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1. Helping Students Learn How to Learn on their Own

There are two important

messages:

1.Many of our students are

not well prepared to do agreat deal of their learning

on their own.

2. If they are to develop the

skills needed to learn on

their own we will have to

teach them these skills.


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Learning on Ones Own

The broad categories include the ability to

handle four areas of task management:

1. Task analysis

2. Identifying resources and planning actions

3. Taking action based on planning4. Assessing actions and revising plans. (adapted from work done at the University of Surrey, University Skills Program.


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Rationales for Having Students Learn on Their Own

It teaches them to figure things out for

themselves and trust their own analytical

abilities in order to complete a task.


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Rationales for Having Students Learn

on Their Own

It teaches them to

generate their own

questions about what is

important to know andwhat is not important

to completing the task.


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on Their Own

It teaches them to

identify resources and

learn first hand which

methods ofinvestigation are helpful

and which are a waste

of time.


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on Their Own

It teaches them how to

organize their findings

and prepare

appropriate ways tocommunicate their

results.


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But perhaps the most

valuable outcome of

learning on ones own is--

The satisfaction and

confidence that

comes when

students are

successful.


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When students realize

they are capable of

thinking for themselves,

and figuring out how tofind and use knowledge

in meaningful ways to

solve real world

problems, they grow inconfidence as learners.


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2. Learning to work with others

Knowing and learning arecommunal acts.

They require many eyes andears, many observationsand experiences. Theyrequire a continual cycle ofdiscussion, disagreement,and consensus over whathas been seen and what itall means (Parker Palmer, 1987 p. 24).

www.osucascades.edu/.../images/two_students.JPG


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Three Vital Questions

1.What do our students know about effectively working

with other students?

2. What have their previous experiences taught them abouthow groups and teams work?

3.What concerns do they have about working withothers?

Finding the answers to these questions is the best placeto start building a successful model of studentscooperation, collaboration and team work.


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A Rationale for Working with Others

The rationale for students learning to effectively

work with others is a simple oneif they cant learn

to do it fairly well their career success may be in

jeopardy.


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Of the three main

modes our students use

to learn, writing,

reading and speaking--the one that is least

used is speaking (Nystrandand Gamoran ).


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Speaking is also the onewhich teachers most oftengive students a pass on.

The irony of this is thatspeaking to others is one ofthe most important, if not

the most importantprofessional and personalskill that students musthave for success.


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Some Advice for Faculty

Teachers like to talk andthey cant stand silenceso they fill it up withtalk!

However, the bestadvice for facilitatingstudents discussion isfor us to keep ourmouths shut!


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3. Helping Students take Charge of their Learning

As instructors we areconditioned to be incontrol of the learningprocess -- moving away

from that idea makesmany of usuncomfortable.

This uncomfortableness is

shared by our studentswhen we ask them totake more control of theirlearning.


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Some Good Reasons to Share Power.

1. Our students cannot

improve their abilities to be

more responsible for their

learning with out being

given greater responsibility

for it.

.


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Some Good Reasons to Share Power.

2. When students have

some control over how

they learn they can

discover their strengthsand weakness as

learners, a vital

metacognitive skill they

will need as life longlearners


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Some helpful reasons to share power.

3. The more control our

students take and the

more choices we can

offer them the greatertheir desire and

willingness to engage in

the learning process.

( Zull p.52)


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Some helpful reasons to share power.

4.When students make a

choice they also must

learn to live with that

choice. This is a verypowerful life lesson.


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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 smallgroup discussions

15. Rubrics for evaluation of self or peerswork

16. If rewriting of papers will be allowed

17. If retesting will be allowed


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Each decision we make about our teaching

sends some message to our students.

For Example

When we fail to maintain order in the

classroom the message is we dont really care

about their learning.


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When we share power with our students by offering

learning choices the message is

we trust their judgment.

we trust them to act inways that are in their bestinterest.

we believe they will makedecisions that are in the

best interest of the wholecommunity of learners.


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Let Students Teach Each Other

Teaching others requires

the person doing the

teaching to thoroughly

understand the knowledge

or skill sets being taught.

Teaching others promotes

deep learning for thestudent doing the teaching.

www.csulb.edu/depts/chls/images/MorenodiceLat...


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Teaching Students how to Teach

OthersLearning benefits:

1. Students must determinehow best to learn about theassigned or chosen topic.

2. Students must locate andevaluate sources of

information that arecredible


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Teaching Students how to Teach

Others

3. Students must seek out

resource people on

campus and around the

world via the Internet.

4. Students will need to

spend some face to face

time with the course

instructor.


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Teaching Students how

to Teach Others

4. Having students teach

promotes independent

learning and the taking on

of increased responsibility

for their own learning.


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Learning from the Other Side of the

Desk

A positive outcome of

students teaching each

other is that the

students will gain anincreased appreciation

for the effort and skills

that we must display to

effectively teach them.

5 H l i St d t ith P t ti d


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5.Helping Students with Presentations and

Performance Assessments

Your work will be made public!

www.uog.edu/dns/NSF/mbCl_files/image004.jpg


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By making work public

1. Take their work more seriously

2. Adds more accountability for

their work

3. Take more time and care in

preparing their work

4. Allows for additional audiences

to assess our students work


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Making Presentations

Rationales for usingpresentations

For a presentation to beeffective students must

know their informationvery well.

Presentations will drivestudents to engage more

thoroughly with thematerial leading todeeper learning.

www.fortlewis.edu/.../Quintana-Yates.JPG


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Presentations enhance

the development of our

students organization

and communication skills.

Students must consider

what structure or pattern

will make the informationeasiest for their audience

to understand. www.usyd.edu.au/.../visiting%20professors.JPG


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Presentations can alsohelp to improve thecomfort levels ofstudents that struggle

with public speaking.

Our classrooms shouldbe among the safestplaces to practice thisvery important careerenhancing skill.

www.uog.edu/dns/NSF/mbCl_files/image002.jpg


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Presentations are anauthentic expression ofwhat our students will beasked to do with much ofwhat they learn in theirprofessions.

Their ideas will be of littlevalue to their colleagues

or companies if they arenot shared in a clear,organized and effectiveways.

www.csuchicoag.org/.../C05AGRI1for%20website.JPG


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Performance Assessment

We can teach students

how to do math, do

history and do science,

not just knowthem.

(Jon Mueller)


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6.Helping Students Become Life Long Learners

An undergraduate

degree clearly is just a

starting point.

lifelonglearning.cqu.edu.au/.../lllc-2008.gif

H i li I d K LLL Skill


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Hospitality Industry Key LLL Skills

Must be able to read large

amounts of information,

determine what is

important to the task at

hand and then quicklysummarize it for others.

Must be able to learn

on their feet from

othersbe able to

observe and listen toothers and quickly

adapt.

H i li I d K LLL Skill


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Must know thedifference between theinformation you need toknow and all the other

information that is outthere.

Must be able to learnfrom your mistakes ( oryou will be out ofbusiness.)

Must be able tocommunicate clearlyand concisely so othersso can apply what youhave given them.

H it lit I d t K LLL Skill


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Must have the skills towork and learn on your

own.

Must know what yourstrengths and weaknesseswell.

Must be computer/technically literate.

Must know how to planand organize your owntime and that of others.

Must know your self well,

your values, moral andethics as they will beconstantly tested.

H it lit I d t K LLL Skill


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What was not identified by the board membersas being important????

Ironically, it was the skills colleges often havestudents spend a great deal of time mastering

Note taking

Memorizing

Test taking

Cramming


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Teaching LLL Skills

By age 38 today's

college students will

change employers or

change occupationswhile working for the

same employer 10-14

times

( U S. Department of Labor, 2004)


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Helping Students to Understand the Need to

Learn LLL Skills

Eighty percent of all thescientists who have everlived are alive today and

every minute they add2000 pages to humansscientific knowledge.

Nearly a million newbooks were published lastyear (International Association ofLibraries).


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Metacognitive Skills and LLL

Metacognitive skills areamong the most importantLLL skills.

Metacognition consist oftwo basic processesoccurring simultaneously:monitoring your progress asyou learn, and making

changes and adapting yourstrategies if you perceiveyou are not doing so well.(Winn & Snyder, 1998)


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Metacognitive Skills and LLL

Metacognitive skills

include:

taking conscious controlof learning,

planning and selecting

strategies,

monitoring the progressof learning,

correcting errors,

analyzing the

effectiveness of learning

strategies,

and changing learning

behaviors and strategies

when necessary( Ridley D.S. Schultz, PS, Glanz, R.S and

Weinstein, CA 1992).


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7. Helping Students Recognize What They Know, Dont Know

and Misunderstand

Our students come tocollege with a range of priorknowledge, skills, beliefsand concepts that

significantly influence whatthey notice about theenvironment and how theyorganize and interpret it.

This, in turn, affects their

abilities to remember,reason, solve problems andacquire new knowledge.(Bransford, et. al. p.10)


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7. Helping Students Recognize What They Know, Dont Know

and Misunderstand

If the only learning tool

our students have is

memorization than

everything we teachthem will likely be seen

as something to be

memorized.


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7. Helping Students Recognize What They Know, Dont Know and

Misunderstand

We need to do a greatdeal of checking.

preexistingunderstandings amongcollege age and olderstudents often persisteven after new models

have been taught thatcontradict their naveunderstandings. (Bransford et.al.p.16)


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Misunderstand

We need to ask our

students to tell us what

they have learned in

their own words, usingexamples and

analogies.


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Misunderstand

Even our brightest studentsfilter the new course

material through their own

prior and may arrive at

conclusions different fromwhat we intended.

If we dont check

we wont know


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Misunderstand

We must create activities

and conditions that allow

our students thinking to be

revealed.

Formative feedback helps

learners identify gaps that

exist between their desired

goal and their currentknowledge, understanding.(Ramaprasad, 1983; Sadler, 1989).


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Misunderstand

The most helpful type

of feedback provides

specific comments

about errors andspecific suggestions for

improvement (Bangert-Drowns,Kulick, & Morgan, 1991; Elawar & Corno, 1985).

FEEDBACK


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Misunderstand

Make certain that

students are using the

feedback they have

been given.

Expect to see the

improvements in their

future work

8 Helping Students to EvaluateThemselves Others and the


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8.Helping Students to EvaluateThemselves, Others and the

Teacher

Friend to Groucho Marx:

Life is difficult!

Marx to Friend: Compared

to what?

imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/CLASS/1. ..

Student Self evaluation


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Student Self-evaluation

Self-evaluation is definedas students judging thequality of their work,based on evidence and

explicit criteria, for thepurpose of doing betterwork in the future (Rolheiserand Ross, 1999).



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When we teach

students how to assess

their own progress, and

when they do so againstknown and challenging

quality standards, a

great deal of learning

can take place.



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Self-evaluation is a

potentially powerful

technique because of its

impact on studentperformance through

enhanced self-efficacy

and increased intrinsic

motivation (Rolheiser and Ross,1999)


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Peer Evaluation

The reason to involve

students in peer

evaluation is that it is awin-win situation for

both the reviewer and

the one receiving the

feedback.


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Peer Evaluation

Those receiving the

feedback discover the

accuracy of their self

assessment.


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Peer Evaluation

The reviewer benefits by developing abilities

to recognize good work from bad work, frame

feedback in clear and helpful ways and deliver

feedback in a positive manner.


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How to Do Peer Evaluation

Peers should focus theirfeedback on a fewimportant aspects of thework.

We must remember ourstudents are novices atgiving feedback.

Using a rubric or set of

questions that focuses thepeer review process willimprove the feedback.


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Seeking Students' Feedback

Ask students three questions

1. What do you like about thecourse and courseinstruction?

2. What would you changeabout the course or courseinstruction?

3.W

hat could you do to makethe learning in this coursebetter for you and yourpeers?

Are your out of class assignments


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Are your out of class assignments

doing what you want them to do?

When giving a

homework assignment

ask students to tell you

if the assignment wasuseful in helping them

understand and learn

the material.

www.spl.surrey.bc.ca/NR/rdonlyres/2ABACBB7-A6...


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References

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

Bjork, R.A. (1994). Memory and Metamemory Considerations in the Training ofHuman Beings. In J. Metcalfe and A. Shimamura (Eds.) Metacognition: Knowing

About Knowing. (pp. 185-205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Givens, Barbara, Teaching to the Brains Natural Learning Systems, ASCDPublications, 2002.

Ratey, John.A Users Guide to the Brain. Pantheon Books, New York, 2001.

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

Doyle, Terry. Helping Students Learn in a Learner Centered Environment: A Guideto Teaching in Higher Education. 2008.Stylus, Sterling, Virginia

f


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References

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

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

Sylwester, Robert.A Celebration of Neurons: An Educators Guise to the HumanBrain. ASCD Publication, 1995.

Zull, James. (2002), The Art ofChanging the Brain. Sterling, Virginia: StylusPublishing.

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

Covington, M. V. (2000) Goal , theory motivation and school achievement: AnIntegrated reviewin Annual Review of Psychology ( pp 171-200)

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

f


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References

How People Learn by National Research Council editor John Bransford,NationalResearch Council, 2000

Goldberg, E. The Executive Brain Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind ,OxfordUniversity Press: 2001

Ratey, J. MD :A Users Guide to the Brain, Sprenger, M. Learning and Memory TheBrain 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 ofWhat Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making ofConsciousness, Harcourt Brace, New York, 1999, 2000.

f


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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-CenteredClassroom & School,

1997)

helping students learn in a learner centered environment october 2010

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