Learner-Centered Pedagogies

This chapter is a critical review of conventional and not so conventional Student-Centered Learning (SCL) pedagogies. Additionally, in the African context, educational institutions have been caught up in a theoretical approach to teaching and learning, characterized by a desire to pass examinations. Consequently, this approach leads to surface learning as opposed to deep learning. Hence, teaching and learning outcomes lack quality and definitely fails to meet and promote skills required by the fast changing modern and postmodern global world. To address this need, this chapter examines the following: Overview of SCL pedagogies; Conventional and not so Conventional SCL pedagogies; Implications for SCL pedagogies to learners, instructors, curriculum, and assessment. Finally, this chapter examines the misconceptions and advantages of adopting SCL in the light of learners and instructors.

The Power of Metaphor in Bringing Clarity for Learners in Learner-Centered Design

The study focuses on guiding students through an exploration of social constructivism model as it relates to the roles of instructor and learner. It explores the use of a metaphor, the dot, to demonstrate that metaphors can support deeper understanding of difficult concepts inherent in learner-centered and constructivist pedagogies. This research was conducted to ascertain whether metaphors provide common reference points for learners that can be used to build and test new assumptions of knowledge. Additionally, the study highlights challenges that learner-centered pedagogy face when identifying preconceived constructs and moving towards the adoption of new thoughts, perspectives, and reasoning. In theory, this study identified the continuing role that metaphors play in the learning theory and how the literature can be explored further. In practice, the study identified student-centered activities, which include the learner as a contributor to knowledge, learning in a community of learners, and empowering the learner to change.

Using Mayer's SOI Approach to Help Learners with ADHD Construct Knowledge

The chapter examines Mayer's (1999) Selection, Organization, and Integration components of learning alongside requirements and processes needed to reach conclusions that learning has taken place. Data for the chapter was gathered through the review of appropriate literature, and reviewed to explore the established symptoms of learners diagnosed with ADHD. The review of literature looked at how the identified symptoms interfered with affected learners' classroom behavior, and subsequently with the ways in which they learn. The reviewed literature further explored various beliefs underlying Mayer's (1999) constructivist theory, and how the components outlined by Mayer (1999) can be adapted to facilitate learning among learners with ADHD. The chapter concludes by juxtaposing Mayer's (1999) design strategies with shortcomings that have been found to hinder learning in learners with ADHD. This juxtaposition results in strategies that could ensure that learning becomes possible among learners with ADHD.

An Exploration of Learner-Centered Professional Development for Reluctant Math Teachers

In recent studies, researchers found that, while 90 percent of teachers reported participating in professional development, most of those teachers reported that it was not effective for improving their practice (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009; Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001; Desimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon, & Birman, 2002; Corcoran & Foley, 2003). These findings indicate that the real issue is not that teachers are not provided with professional development, but that the typical modes of professional development are ineffective at changing teacher practices and/or student learning. Therefore, there is a need to explore new ways of conducting effective professional development for teachers. This study investigates a learner-centered model of professional development, which is designed to maximize the impact of teacher training on student learning.

Students' Experiences in Using Chat Rooms as Virtual Classrooms

This chapter shares experiences from a group of students who were using the chat rooms as part of instruction in their course work. It also attempts to explain the lessons learnt when one exposes the distant learning students to a different method of facilitation. The respondents were 51 university distance learning students from Kenyatta university in Kenya whose lecturer had created chat rooms as virtual classrooms in their coursework during the May to August 2012 semester. The lecturer's availability at all times was vital to students' success in using the chat room. Using chat rooms as virtual classrooms gave every student in the class room an equal voice as students engaged the lecturer and each other on a common playing ground. This chapter underscores the importance of chat rooms as environments that supports virtual learning for distance learners and encourages learners' participation hence enhancing learner-centered learning.

Teachers' and Students' Role in the Learner-Centered Classrooms

Prior to Namibia's independence in 1990, the role of the teacher in an educational environment has been defined as the transmission of information to students, and the teacher was regarded as the all-knowing person in the classroom, who slavishly followed the textbook in transmitting the subject matter to the students. In some cases, the teacher did not understand the subject matter that he/she transmitted to students. Therefore, there was no explanation of what was being taught. Students had to sit passively and listen to the teacher; learn by memorization (rote learning), and recall the transmitted information. This study explored perceptions of the role of teachers and students in learner-centered classrooms in a primary school in Namibia. Learner-centered teachers create learning environments that promote students' active engagement with learning and develop critical thinking skills.

Developing Pedagogical Skills for Teachers

Since technology alone without the instructor or teacher cannot deliver learning to learners, the presence of the teacher or instructor is very important. For any meaningful teaching and learning to take place in a class, the teacher must gain learner's attention. Teachers who use learner centered approaches have a strong trust in students, they believe that students want to learn, have great faith in student ability and offer students ownership of class activities. They are able to manage their classroom. This chapter looks at the way attention can be measured and used as a tool to inform teachers in order to enable them manage the classroom and learning activities. There is a significant relationship between rate of response as a measure of attention and use of technology meant for teaching and learning. Teaching and learning technologies draw learners' attention, motivating them and arousing their curiosity to be engaged in learning.

Teacher Preparation Programs and Learner-Centered, Technology-Integrated Instruction

Integrating technology with instruction using a learner-centered pedagogy, enhances student engagement with learning. Effective technology-integrated instruction involves providing high-quality lesson design, with opportunities for inquiry-based learning, while building a community of learners within a technology-rich classroom (e-MINTS, 2016). For first-year teachers to enter a PK-12 classroom with the knowledge, skills, experiences, and resulting self-efficacy to implement technology-integrated instruction, they must have experienced modeling from teacher preparation faculty and a course of study with relevant experiences (Zhao, 2007). This chapter examines four components of effective technology-integrated, learner-centered instruction as well as the influential role of teacher preparation programs in providing a model and experiences for teacher candidates.

A Learner-Centered Approach to Technology Integration

This chapter demonstrates a model for technology integration in learner-centered classrooms for educators, administrators, and policy makers. In this model, students are trained on how to use a technological tool but then given freedom to choose how much and in what specific content area they use the tool. Three key aspects of learner-centered curriculum design are supported by this model: 1) delivering scaffolding strategies to help students become active and autonomous learners; 2) giving learners a role in shaping the curriculum, and 3) recognizing each learner's diverse, unique background and learning style (American Psychological Association, 1997). The application of the model described here is rather narrow--training English as a Second Language (ESL) students to use online geographical tools (e.g., Google Earth) – but it can be adapted to suit a wide range of technological tools, subjects, and contexts.

Experiential Learning in Postsecondary Education

This chapter focuses on the theories of experiential learning as applied to undergraduate education in the context of personal and career development of students through a learner-centered online internship program model. The chapter explores the need for experience and problem-based applied learning strategies that are transferrable to the world of work with value to students in arenas of their lives extending into their educational, professional and personal spheres. The chapter explores essential building blocks and best practices for faculty as teachers and mentors to implement in the online internship program experience to capitalize on traditional experiential learning practices. Furthermore, valuable assessment techniques, useful to experiential learning strategies to measure growth in student learning from application of experiential learning are included. The chapter concludes with challenges associated with deviating from traditional instructional teaching modes.