Learning objectives for this lesson:

•  recognize the changing paradigm of student learning environments

•  evaluate procedures of three instructional methods to build student-centered learning environment

•  critically analyze examples of how these methods are used in teaching

Peters (1993) criticizes online instruction for its lack of the human dimension of group interactions among students and teachers. He added that without such interactions, distance education may end up a mass-production assembly line process where a division of labor (educators and technology specialists) replaces the more craft-oriented approach of traditional face-to-face education.

Growing literature attempts to address Peters' concern. Among other researches, Boettcher and Conrad (1999) suggest building an online learning community that " consists of learners who support and assist each other, make decisions synergistically, and communicate with peers on a variety of topics beyond those assigned" (p. 88). To this end, the first step that faculty can do is to develop and structure a learning environment where student can work individually and/or collaboratively. Much of this groundwork centers on designing a student-centered learning environment instead of an instructor-led environment. The following section introduces what student-centered learning environments mean and three widely-used instructional strategies to build such environments.

What is a student-centered learning environment? (view a PPT)

In traditional face-to-face environments, direct instruction is prevalent and learning is often instructor-led. Due to the reliance of the instructors, students are often denied opportunities to develop their decision-making, self-monitoring, and problem-solving skills necessary to optimize learning experiences (Perkins, 1993). Subsequently, students can become increasingly complaints, or even grievances, in their learning because they have to match their learning process to those expected by external agent. Presumably, if given the opportunities to make choices and pursue individual interests, students have to develop greater responsibility for their own learning, and that is particularly important for the success of an online education.

Student-centered learning environments are grounded in constructivist learning environments, which share key epistemological foundations and assumptions of psychology. Constructivists view learning as constructing meaning, and reality and meaning are personally rather than universally defined. Such viewpoint draws heavily from psychological research and theory that emphasize the interaction of content, context and understanding, the individual negotiations of  meaning, and the construction of knowledge (Land & Hannafin, 2000).

In summary, traditional learning environments focus on direct instruction (deductive learning/ knowledge transmission) while student-centered learning environments focus on the active construction of new knowledge on the part of students (inductive learning/ knowledge construction). It is hoped that online courses offer a medium of instruction which can provide a combination of direct instruction and individual knowledge construction.

What are the instructional methods that can enhance student-centered learning environments?

There are a variety of instructional methods that can build student-centered learning environments. Among them, problem-based learning, project-based learning, and case-based reasoning are three widely used methods.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

The concept of PBL was developed by Howard Barrows and his colleagues for medical education in 1980s. Barrow et all. immersed medical students' entire training program into problem solving that eventually lead them to a better understanding of basic sciences in medicine (Barrows & Tamblyn, 1980).

Over the past two decades, PBL, as a curricular approach, has been considered to be one of the most important innovations in education (Jonassen, 2000). Its use goes beyond medical education and expands to arts, sciences, education, and engineering. 

PBL Procedures (PowerPoint)                        PBL and Academic Standards
PBL example from NASA                              PBL Resources

Project-Based Learning (PBjL)

Project-based Learning is an instructional method that uses complex, real-life projects to motivate student learning and enhance learning experiences. In PBjL, the projects are authentic, and, at the same time, they adhere to a curricular framework. One immediate benefit of practicing project-based learning is that classroom activity shifts away from the classroom practices of short, isolated, teacher-centered lessons and instead emphasizes learning activities that are long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centered, and integrated with real-world issues and practices (Jonassen, 2000). Project-based learning thus helps make learning relevant and useful to students by establishing connections to life outside the classroom. To this end, students integrate many higher order skills such as making decisions, taking initiatives, and working with others, all are favorable skills desired by today’s employers.

PBjL Procedures (PowerPoint)                              PBjL Example
PBJL in Action (Video)                                          PBjL Article

Case-based Reasoning (CBR)

The concept of CBR claims that what people know is stored in memory as stories. In any new situation, people examine the situation and attempt to retrieve a previously experienced situation that resembles the current situation. In doing so, prior solutions can be adapted to new problems by finding similar past cases and applying the lessons from that experience to the new case (Land & Hannafin, 2000). Learning, from a CBR perspective, is a process of indexing and filing experience-based lessons and reusing them in similar situations in the future.

Case-based learning was employed in law schools as early as the late 1800’s. It has also been popular in business schools since the early 1900’s. Today, CBR has reached beyond legal and business education, and is applied in a wide variety of educational contexts.

CBR Procedures (PowerPoint)                                        
How is CBR used in distance education?

References
Barrows, H. S., & Tamblyn, R. M. (1980). Problem-based learning: An approach to medical education. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Boettcher, J., V., & Conrad, R., M. (1999). Faculty guide for moving teaching and learning to the Web. Mission Viejo, CA: League for Innovation in the community College.

Jonassen, D. (2000). Learning to solve problems with Technology: A constructivist perspectives. Columbus, OH: Upper Saddle River.

Land, S. M., & Hannafin, M. J. (2000). Student-centered learning environments. In D. H. Jonassen & S. M. Land, Theoretical foundations of learning environments (pp. 1 -23). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Perkins, D. N. (1993). Person-plus: A distributed view of thinking and learning. In G. Salomon's (Ed.), Distributed intelligence (pp. 89-109). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Peters, O. (1993). Understanding distance education. in K. Harry, M. Hohn, and D. Keegan (eds.), Distance Education: New Perspectives (pp. 172 - 190). London: Routledge.