Facilitating Learner-

Centered Teaching
Learner-centered teaching is an approach to
education that focuses on the needs and interests of
the learners. This pedagogical approach empowers
students to take ownership of their learning and
encourages active participation. By prioritizing the
learners' unique abilities, learning styles, and
interests, educators can create a more engaging
and
JV effective learning environment.
 What is Learner-Centered Teaching?
Teaching is an The teacher provides The concept of LCT can be summed up
interactive process. varied opportunities. in the acronym I CARED.
I – interactive, innovative,
As a learning facilitator, the teacher provides interdisciplinary
The teacher acts as the learning
the learners with varied opportunities to C – collaborative, contextualized
facilitator while the learners are
enhance their knowledge, skills, and attitudes A – active, authentic
active participants in the
while emphasizing the 21st century skills of R – responsive, relevant
teaching-learning process.
collaboration, communication, critical thinking E – exploratory, experiential
and problem solving, and creative thinking and D – developmentally appropriate
innovation.problem-solving
Introduction to Learner-Centered Teaching
• In the last 20 years of research in the field of learner-centered teaching, the evidence points
strongly to bringing the students to the center or the focus of the learning process. As a
future teacher, you need to consider very well your students’ learning goals, the subject
matter they want students to learn, and select an appropriate pedagogical approach that will
enable them to learn.
• Learner-Centered Teaching (LCT) has become a popular phrase among educators
nowadays. It has been named in several ways such as the student-centered approach or
learner-centered pedagogy in many textbooks and journal articles. Looking at the research
literature surrounding learner-centered teaching in the past 20 years, a book published in
2002 by Maryellen Weimer stands as one of the earlier attempts to comprehensively discuss
and define what is LCT about.
 Balance of
Power

Evaluation
Responsibility of
Purpose &

Introduction to Learner-Centered Teaching

Learner
Process
5 Features

• In Weimer’s book titled, ‘Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice’, five
Function of
Role of Teacher
key changes were significantly taking place in schools.
Content

Figure 1: Five Key Changes in Learner-Centered Teaching Practices

Balance of Power
In a traditional classroom, the power to decide what lessons to discuss, what
learning activities students must engage in, and what assessment tasks to give
mainly belongs to the teacher with little input from students. On the other hand,
in a student-centered classroom, a teacher shares that power by consulting
1
learners prior to making final decisions.

The traditional exercise of power in the classroom often benefits the teacher more
than it promotes student learning. The uniform instructional approach or ‘one-
size-fits-all’ concept certainly is more convenient on the part of the teacher who
2 has worked hard in planning, implementing, and assessing outcomes of learning.
However, this uniform approach has been criticized by scholars for being
unresponsive to the diversity of needs, interests, and readiness among students.

3 To balance power in the classroom, learners are frequently consulted and given immediate
and ongoing feedback by the teacher. The teacher empowers students by allowing them to
choose and make decisions like selecting among lesson topics, choosing learning
activities, determining the pace of learning, and selecting an assessment task to
demonstrate one’s mastery of targeted learning competencies.
Function of Content
From a constructivist perspective, knowledge cannot simply be given to students:
Students must construct their own meanings” (Stage, Muller, Kinzie, and Simmons,
1998, p. 35). In other words, learners are capable of constructing and reconstructing their
knowledge through active personal effort. This view debunks the current belief about
students’ learning from passively receiving information transmitted by teachers via
lectures.

To facilitate learning that changes how students think and understand, teachers must
begin by finding out students’ prior knowledge or conceptions and then design learning
activities that will change these pre-instructional concepts.

Learner-centered teaching also regards content as more of competency-based learning in

which students master targeted skills and content before progressing to another lesson.
The more important practice here is to accommodate students’ differing paces of
learning. For instance, some students may be able to demonstrate they know how to use a
microscope in 1 hour while others need 2 hours of practice to demonstrate proficiency in
manipulating it.
Role of the Teacher

Constructivism theory brings the role of the

As generally observed, less knowledgeable
teacher as that of a facilitator of learning,
and experienced learners will interact with
not as the fountain of learning. He/she
content in less intellectually robust ways,
instead encourages students to explore
but the goal is to involve students in the
multiple knowledge sources, make sense of
process of acquiring and retaining
it, and personally organize the information
information.
taken from different sources.

This shifting view on the role of the teacher deemphasizes the focus on teaching techniques and
methods if they are considered separate from the subject matter and learning structures of the
discipline.
Responsibility of Learners

Adults are known to be capable of self-

In recent years, work on self-regulated
directed learning and continuous learning
learning has advanced, and the goal of 21st
occurs across their career span and lifetime.
century education ought to be the creation
Each student may require different ways of
of independent, autonomous learners who
learning, researching, and analyzing the
assume responsibility for their own
information available.
learning.

It establishes that students can and should be made responsible for their learning.
Learning skills of autonomous self-regulating learners can be learned and must be taught even at
an early age. This is even more important when entering higher education.
Evaluation Purpose and Process
They can review performance and
1 The literature on self-directed learning 2
also underscores the importance of identify what needs improvement.
assessment, only in this case students
can self-assess accurately. Sophisticated
learners know when they do or do not
understand something.

3 They have mechanisms for their collections and methods for evaluating it and acting on them.
 Four Principles of Student-centered Approach
More recently, Kaput (2018) reported on research on the student-centered approach that was
funded by the UMass Donahue Institute and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. The study
surveyed 12 public high schools in New England regarding their use of learner-centered
teaching in the classroom, and it summarized its findings into four tenets:

Learning is Personalized Students engage in different ways and in different

places.
Learning is competency-based Students move ahead when they have demonstrated
mastery of content, not when they’ve reached a
certain birthday or endured the required hours in a
classroom.

Learning happens anytime, anywhere Learning takes place beyond the traditional school
day and even the school year. Learning is also not
restricted to the classroom.
Students take ownership of their learning Students are engaged in their own success, as well
as incorporating their interests and skills into the
learning process.
Top 20 Principles for PreK–12 Teaching and Learning
The American Psychological Association (APA) published 2015
its top 20 principles for teaching and learning for basic education
teachers. These principles were based on decades of research on
human learning and can well serve as lampposts for today’s
teachers on how to facilitate learner-centered teaching. A brief
statement of APA on the implications of the top 20 principles to
current teaching practices is quoted below:
“Psychological science has much to contribute to enhancing
teaching and learning in the classroom. Teaching and learning are
intricately linked to social and behavioral factors of human
development, including cognition, motivation, social interaction,
and communication” (APA, 2015, p.8)
As a future educator, the top 20 principles revolve around the
following key concepts to keep in mind whenever we design our
instructional plans and implement them with our students.
Principle 1. Students’ beliefs or perceptions about intelligence and
ability affect their cognitive functioning and learning.
Principle 2. What students already know affects their learning.
Principle 3. Students’ cognitive development and learning is not
limited to general stages of development.
As a future educator, the top 20 principles revolve around the
following key concepts to keep in mind whenever we design our
instructional plans and implement them with our students.
Principle 4. Learning is based on context, so generalizing learning
in new contexts is not spontaneous but instead needs to be
facilitated.
Principle 5. Acquiring long-term knowledge and skills is
largely dependent on practice.
Principle 6. Clear, explanatory, and timely feedback to
students are important for learning.
As a future educator, the top 20 principles revolve around the
following key concepts to keep in mind whenever we design our
instructional plans and implement them with our students.
Principle 7. Students’ self-regulation assists learning,
and self-regulatory skills can be taught.
Principle 8. Student creativity can be fostered.
Principle 9. Students tend to enjoy learning and perform
better when they are more intrinsically than
extrinsically motivated to achieve.
As a future educator, the top 20 principles revolve around the
following key concepts to keep in mind whenever we design our
instructional plans and implement them with our students.
Principle 10. Students persist in the face of challenging tasks and
process information more deeply when they adopt mastery goals
rather than performance goals.
Principle 11. Teachers’ expectations about their students affect
students’ opportunities to learn, their motivation, and their
learning outcomes.
Principle 12. Setting goals that are short-term (proximal), specific,
and moderately challenging enhances motivation more than
establishing goals that are long-term (distal), general, and overly
challenging.
As a future educator, the top 20 principles revolve around the
following key concepts to keep in mind whenever we design our
instructional plans and implement them with our students.
Principle 13. Learning is situated within multiple social contexts.
Principle 14. Interpersonal relationships and communication are
critical to both the teaching–learning process and the social-
emotional development of students.
Principle 15. Emotional well-being influences educational
performance, learning, and development.
Principle 16. Expectations for classroom conduct and social
interaction are learned and can be taught using proven principles
of behavior and effective classroom instruction.
As a future educator, the top 20 principles revolve around the
following key concepts to keep in mind whenever we design our
instructional plans and implement them with our students.
Principle 17. Effective classroom management is based on (a)
setting and communicating high expectations, (b) consistently
nurturing positive relationships, and (c) providing a high level of
student support.
Principle 18. Formative and summative assessments are both
important and useful but require different approaches and
interpretations.
As a future educator, the top 20 principles revolve around the
following key concepts to keep in mind whenever we design our
instructional plans and implement them with our students.
Principle 19. Students’ skills, knowledge, and abilities are best
measured with assessment processes grounded in psychological
science with well-defined standards for quality and fairness.
Principle 20. Making sense of assessment data depends on clear,
appropriate, and fair interpretation.

https://www.apa.org/ed/schools/teaching-learning/top-twenty-prin
ciples.pdf