As the focus of my idea and rationale for ethical education, the term "student-centered" deserves further analysis and understanding.
Maryellen Weimer in her book Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice, describes student-centered teaching as 1 idea based on 5 principles. The idea: the student is the focus of the class; the principles:
- The balance of power
- The function of content
- The role of the teacher
- The responsibility for learning
- The purpose and processes of evaluation.
According to Geven & Santa (2010) of Educational International, student centered learning has an academic and social (multifaceted support systems including healthcare and financial services), and ontological and epistemological (multifaceted instructional methods to further understand human nature). View their full analysis here or in the Case Studies section of this blog.
The University of Glasgow (2004) identified four strategies on student-centered learning practices: the more active student knowledge acquisiton (classroom exercise, fieldwork, technology-assisted learning); the more aware the student is of what they’re doing and why; a focus on interaction(workshops, discussion groups); the focus on transferable skills (connecting knowledge to higher levels of knowledge) (O'Neil & McMahon, 2004). Visit the Articles and Research section of this blog for access to this study.
Balance, give and take, active interaction, epistemology, academically social...From the research, case analysis, and my experiences, it is clear that student-centered education is an unformulated, harmonious balance of both unpredictable events and specifically scripted requirements. Ethically speaking, a student-centered education is an inclusive celebration of life and humankind.
Classmates, your definitions and input are critical. What do you think of when you hear "student-centered?" Do the case studies miss the point? Is "student-centered" the same in elementary schools as it is in higher education? Please post your comments. Thank you.
The University of Glasgow (2004) identified four strategies on student-centered learning practices: the more active student knowledge acquisiton (classroom exercise, fieldwork, technology-assisted learning); the more aware the student is of what they’re doing and why; a focus on interaction(workshops, discussion groups); the focus on transferable skills (connecting knowledge to higher levels of knowledge) (O'Neil & McMahon, 2004). Visit the Articles and Research section of this blog for access to this study.
Balance, give and take, active interaction, epistemology, academically social...From the research, case analysis, and my experiences, it is clear that student-centered education is an unformulated, harmonious balance of both unpredictable events and specifically scripted requirements. Ethically speaking, a student-centered education is an inclusive celebration of life and humankind.
Classmates, your definitions and input are critical. What do you think of when you hear "student-centered?" Do the case studies miss the point? Is "student-centered" the same in elementary schools as it is in higher education? Please post your comments. Thank you.
When I hear student-centered, I think of our students as the main subject and how the mission of the school and the programs that are developed be based around them. I think the points you have touched can apply to both elementary school and higher education.
ReplyDeleteI love the piece where you mentioned the University of Glasgow's four strategies. I work in the area of career development and I like to think that is exactly what our development does to help students build on their career. We provide a large number of workshops, encourage internships, and conduct informational sessions about various industries so they can increase their knowledge. BUt more importantly, we focus on the transferable skills. How to take everything they have learned from these events, academics, and even internships to their career.
It is basic educational psychology but worth revisiting; are you familiar with Lev Vygotsky and his terms of "zone of proximal development" and "scaffolding?" If not, check out the ONLINE RESOURCES TAB in this blog and link I have towards his work. He was the champion of transferable skills, something that I believe is lost in education today, as a result of lack of creative teaching methods and teacher laziness.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading!
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteAccording to Brush and Saye, (2001) student-centered learning activities promote the development of higher order skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. I don’t know if you have come across this but they point out there are difficulties associated with supporting student centered learning for students with learning difficulties, and proposed scaffolds to help engage students in this type of learning. They identify that the content and activities used to promote student centered learning do not provide enough structure to adequately guide some students. toward successful completion of classroom activities. As a result this increases the students’ frustration and disorientation.
In contrast to teacher centered activities, where the teacher generally generates the goals and objectives for students, and students meet the predefined objectives; student centered activities require students to set meaningful goals and assume more responsibility for meeting those goals and monitoring their own progress. They point out that applying student centered activities assumes the student is able to carry out metacognitive skills such as self-management, monitoring and evaluation. Students who are not effective self-mangers may be overwhelmed by the scope of an activity, unable to determine what information is important.
They refer to scaffolds as tool strategies and guides which support students in attaining higher level of understanding by gathering and synthesizing information that would be impossible if they worked on their own. In their research the scaffolds were designed to support students in a research activity using a data base as a resource. The scaffolding they refer to have the same implications as Vygotsky, where students are encouraged to take a more active role in learning by shifting the responsibilities of organizing, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating content from the teacher to the student.
Brush and Saye also point out that that in the majority of student-centered tasks, collaboration among students is an integral component to understanding the viewpoints and perspectives of others. Their research indicated that some students cannot be grouped together without proper training in developing group goals, group management and decision-making skills.
Brush, T. & Saye, J. (2001). The use of embedded scaffolds with hypermedia-supported student-centered learning. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 10(4)
333-356.
Another great source that identifies student centered learning and process education as it shifts control to students, working toward self-assessment and transformational leadership is presented at http://www.processeducation.org/
and Transforming Education in the Classroom at www.pcrest.com
I hope this is helpful. Good Luck!
Michele Sherwin
Michele,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your input and additions to this blog.
You bring up some excellent points, specifically about student-centered learning and learning disabilities. It certainly is a challenge to allow students to guide learning when they may not have a firm understand of how they learn best.
My response would be that the teacher or curriculum specialist must first come to conclusions regarding the nature of their students before they plan or guide learning. Initially coming to understand that students may not have the skills to self-organization or motivate, or are stymied by learning issues is focusing on the student first. Identifying these student-specific challenges sets the tone, which I believe falls under a category of student-centered learning.
Thanks for the references and resources. I look forward to browsing through them. They are posted accordingly on this blog.
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of or hear "student-centered" instruction I think of differentiated instruction because it covers many different areas that included instruction that is catered to abilities, readiness and interests. The case studies that you included bring up some very interesting points from various perspectives. First, I would definitely agree with Weimer's key idea and the five principle points that are incorporated into this idea. As a secondary education teacher working slowly and steadily to integrate differentiated instruction strategies into my own classroom I can say that one of the biggest challenges is walking the tight rope (which you so appropriately represented in the picture above)! With so much demand from the district and administration levels, teachers must find ways to integrate these strategies into their own classroom effectively.
I enjoyed reading about the case studies, especially the Alien Rescue case. It was interesting to discover how various educators are defining student-centered instructions. I do not necessarily believe all of the case studies miss the point, but I would be interested in researching and reading more about how district administration teams are supplying their educators with more time to develop strategies and refine their instruction to be more student-centered.
Lastly, to answer your question about whether or not student-centered instruction is the same in elementary schools as it is in higher education I would have to say it many have similar traits, but I do not feel that secondary educators, at least in my district, are provided with the same opportunities/time as elementary educators to implement these types of strategies. The structure at the secondary level needs to also be designed differently, including more group planning time that is utilized effectively during the school day.
Thank you and I look forward to reading more on your blog!
~ Kimberlee
Kim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, both on the Discussion Board and on the blog. My apologies for not getting to them sooner.
I face the challenge in this Ed.D program of having to steer what I learn and study from these courses and apply it to a non-academic environment: I work in event planning, for education and non-profit organizations. This being my subtext, I speak about "education" in two contexts: one, from what I have seen both as a student and when I was a secondary educator (I was trained as teaching and taught for a few years); and two, my role as expert communicator and organizational planner. Communication, creativity, education, and mentoring define my professionalism, my work ethic, and my personality. It is my hope that this program will allow me to understanding what constitutes effectiveness, and how important it is to be creative and flexible when reaching goals.
So, in order to steer this assignment towards academic and professional meaningfulness, I have decided to define a "student-centered" experience in a very Dewian way: a learning opportunity that allows an individual to have complete freedom and accessibility to explore their talents. The role of educators is to creatively and sensitively impart wisdom on novices to guide them towards skills development and higher learning. The kind of educational experience I have laid out in this blog and my desire to implement it in contemporary primary and secondary schools is one that I have never experienced, neither as student or teacher. In contemporary times, my theories are challenging to establish due to political and bureaucratic pressures placed on players within the educational system.
This final project has proved to be an excellent exercise in fusing theoretical ideas with practical realities. The changes I would like to see are rooted in a suspended theoretical frame, if time, money, and power struggles were non-factors. But I believe they are feasible, and necessary to for ethical experiences. Education needs to focus on the individual first, and depending on the vantage point (teacher, administrator) the focus has different meaning: teachers viewing students, administrators viewing schools. In understanding the basic motivations of the individual unit (school, student, district), leaders can drive the processes and decisions that have the most enriching effects; which, as well, has multi-layered meaning. It is my opinion leaders must learn the skills and possess the tools to create ethically meaningful experiences that celebrate uniqueness. My final post goes into detail about such skill development.
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ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteI not only appreciate your approach to student-centered learning but an also an advocate.
The diagram that captures your "big idea" centering on students being the "crux" of the education system best exemplfies how the students are the purpose and the reason for all that we do as educators. Unfortunately, the concept of student-centered is preached but very little as far as actions, policies, and interventions support those bombastic assertions. For instance, if schools really identified student needs as the priority, the central issue of the education system, then more services would be provided, there wouldn't be a shortage of supplies, building conditions would be improved, bonafide representations of differentiation would be adopted, etc. However, all of the resources and interventions required to show and and actualize the concept the student-centered instruction are major areas of contention. Very interesting.
So, your blog has inspired me to question whether or not I am "walking the walk" of student-centered methodology even though I "talk the talk."
Thanks for keeping me on my toes!