How do you plan to teach this Fall? Will you teach face-to-face, online, or a blend of both face-to-face and online? Administrators in higher education finalized decisions for the return of faculty, staff, and students to the overall learning experience. The same is true for primary and secondary education as well. Now, faculty at all levels are faced with adjusting their teaching approaches to meet the threat of the COVID-19 virus and to engage their students more meaningfully with their studies. Given some recent, cutting-edge research on how students learn, several studies argue that it may be wise to approach both teaching and learning from a student-centered perspective. The teacher-centered approach is the traditional scenario in which the teacher is in control of the content and delivery while the students passively receive instruction (Deksissa, Liang, Behera, & Harkness, 2014). In contrast, a student-centered approach encourages students to play a more active role in their learning (Brown, 2014). This article briefly discusses the student-centered approach in conjunction with different teaching models and methods based on recent research.
The many virtues of a student-centered approach to teaching and learning have been discussed and evaluated positively in several recent studies. They reveal that a student-centered environment is a student-driven, collaborative, and more problem-focused classroom that is rich with interactive technologies (Thiele, Mai, & Post, 2014). Instructors using a student-centered approach give students an opportunity to be active participants in the construction of knowledge (Deksissa et al., 2014). One positive outcome of this approach is that students become responsible for their learning in an interactive environment where instructors act more as facilitators who guide and support their students’ engagement with the working dynamics of the material (Toven-Lindsey, Rhoads, & Lozano, 2015). Using learning management systems, such as Blackboard Learn, instructors can shift their efforts away from a traditional, teacher-centered approach in the teaching and learning environment and toward a more student-centered learning experience (Foroughi, 2015).
In a recent, qualitative research study, participants discussed changes in their instructional approach and adopted features and tools in Blackboard Learn for use in the traditional face-to-face environment in higher education (Washington, 2017). Participants specifically mentioned team-based learning, blended learning, and flipped classroom/learning as teaching models and methods that provided a student-centered approach for teaching and learning. Participant P3 switched instruction to a team-based learning (TBL) format where students read something outside of class. Back in the classroom, students took individual and group quizzes and worked through cases and problems together. Also, P3 gave a mini-lecture that focused on concepts with which students struggled the most and later posted them in Blackboard Learn. Participant P3 was the ‘guide on the side’ verses the ‘sage on the stage’.
Other participants shared their experiences with using Blackboard Learn to support blended learning and flipped classroom/learning. Participant P12 felt that the blended learning approach did not constrain students to a certain time frame to get their learning done. Instead, “It just allows them more flexibility to be able to do that in a blended class and that’s important.” Participant P9 viewed technology as a new and refreshing way to teach and now posts her lecture and the repetitive information on Blackboard Learn. She shared, “I know much more about what Blackboard can do to support my teaching and my students’ learning. I am now totally bored by teaching a traditional face-to-face class and find lecturing a complete waste of my time.” Participant P9 also said that “Blackboard allows flipped learning. I would not know how to do flipped learning without Blackboard.” Participant P18 now tends to do less lecturing in class and hold more open discussions of the content. Using a flipped classroom frees time up for more questions and answers in class versus pure lecture because “a lot of the content, the pure book content, or the content that I want to cover, can be delivered through PowerPoints, through additional readings, and through articles that I may post on Blackboard.”
In summary, using Blackboard Learn as a teaching and learning platform allowed instructors to change from traditional, face-to-face teaching methods and to embrace the student-centered approach. The instructors participating in the study conducted by Washington (2017) used different types of delivery methods and student-centered models to enhance learning in the traditional face-to-face environment. Features and tools in Blackboard Learn were necessary for providing teaching and learning opportunities beyond the traditional classroom environment. The findings in the current study align with findings by previous researchers related to student-centered learning and learning management systems.
References:
Brown, L. (2014). Constructivist learning environments and defining the
online learning community. I-Manager's Journal on School Educational
Technology, 9(4), 1. Retrieved from http://www.imanagerpublications.com/
Deksissa, T., Liang, L. R., Behera, P., & Harkness, S. J. (2014). Fostering significant learning in sciences. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(2), 12. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ij-sotl/
Foroughi, A. (2015). The theory of connectivism: Can it explain and guide learning in the digital age? Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 15(5), 11. Retrieved from http://www.na-businesspress.com/jhetpopen.html
Thiele, A. K., Mai, J. A., & Post, S. (2014). The student-centered classroom of the 21st century: Integrating web 2.0 applications and other technology to actively engage students. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 28(1), 80-93. Retrieved from http://www.aptaeducation.org
Toven-Lindsey, B., Rhoads, R. A., & Lozano, J. B. (2015). Virtually unlimited classrooms: Pedagogical practices in massive open online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 24, 1-12. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2014.07.001
Washington, G. Y. (2017). Learning
management systems in traditional face-to-face courses: A narrative inquiry
study (10639584) (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations
& Theses Global. (10639584)
