SAN JOSE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Malilipot, Albay

COURSE TITLE: Facilitating Learner-Centered Teaching

COURSE CODE: Prof. Ed. 6
COURSE CREDIT: 3 Units, 3 hours/week (18 weeks, 54 hours total)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Major exams, summative quizzes, per unit output as specified in the
assessment, end of course learning log (reflective journal) and
portfolio (compilation of outputs) of each unit.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to explore and equip students with the fundamental principles,
processes, and practices anchored on learner-centeredness and other educational psychologies
supportive of learning environments as these apply to facilitate various teaching-learning
delivery modes to enhance learning. It also includes the demonstration of knowledge and
understanding of differentiated teaching to suit the learner’s gender, needs, strengths,
interests, and experiences. Further students will be trained to implement teaching strategies
that are responsive to learners’ linguistic, cultural, socio-economic and religious backgrounds.

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, the students should be able to:
1. demonstrate understanding of the concepts and principles of learner-centered teaching
based on educational philosophies and research and their application in actual teaching
and learning;
2. demonstrate understanding of learning environment that promotes fairness, respect,
and care to encourage learning;
3. demonstrate knowledge of managing, classroom structure that engages learners,
individually or in groups, in meaningful exploration, discovery and hands-on activities
within the available physical learning environments;
4. demonstrate understanding of supportive learning environment that nurtures and
inspires learner participation
5. demonstrate knowledge of learning environments that motivates learners to work
productively by assuming responsibility for their own learning;
6. demonstrate knowledge of positive and non-violent discipline in the management of
learner behavior
7. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of differentiated teaching to suit the
learner’s gender, needs, strengths, interests and experiences;
8. implement teaching strategies that are responsive to learners’ linguistic, cultural, socio-
economic and religious backgrounds;
9. demonstrate understanding of the special needs of learners who have been displaced
due to urban resettlement, calamities and armed conflict, and
10. demonstrate knowledge of laws and policy documents that promotes learner-centered
learning.

CONTENT: Unit I Learner-centered teachings: Foundations and characteristics

TIME ALLOTMENT: Week 1 and 2
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the unit, the students can:
a. differentiate learner-centered teaching from other teaching approaches (e.g. teacher-
centered approach) as applied in various teaching areas;
b. discuss the need to shift from teacher-centered teaching to learner-centered teaching
based on philosophical foundations, teaching principles and current research; and
c. discuss the varied roles of the teacher in learner-centered teaching and learning.

A. LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
1. Definition
This is an approach that places the learners at the center of the learning. This
means the learner or student is responsible for learning while the tutor is
responsible for facilitating learning. This is also known as student-centered learning.
2. Characteristics
a. Learner-centered teaching engages students in the hard, messy work of learning
on any given day, in most classes teachers are working much harder than
students.
b. It includes explicit skill instruction.
Learner-centered teachers teach students how to think, solve problems,
evaluate evidence, analyze arguments, generate hypotheses – all those learning
skills essential to mastering material in the discipline.
c. It encourages students to reflect on what they are learning and how they are
learning it.
Teachers challenge student assumptions about learning and encourage them to
accept responsibility for decisions they make about learning like how they study
for exams, when they do assigned reading, whether they revise their writing or
check their answers.
d. It motivates students by giving them some control over learning processes.
Learner-centered teachers search out ethically responsible ways to share power
with students.
e. It encourages collaboration.
Learner-centered teachers work to develop structures that promote shared
commitments to learning.

B. PARADIGM SHIFT: FROM TEACHER-CENTERED to LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

1. Philosophical perspective
- Teacher-centered philosophies
 Essentialism
is the educational philosophy of teaching basic skills. This
philosophy advocates training the mind. Essentialist educators focus on
transmitting a series of progressively difficult topics and promotion of
students to the next level of grade. It stresses core knowledge in reading,
writing, math, science, history, foreign language, and technology. The
tools include lecturing, memorization, repetition, practice and
assessment.

William C. Bagley (1874-1946) was one of the most influential

advocates of essentialism.

 Perennialism
is the educational philosophy advocates the importance of certain
works transcends time. Perennial work are those considered as important
and applicable today as they were written and are referred to as great
works. Common examples include Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Dante’s
 Inferno, etc. Perennialism is sometimes referred to as “culturally
conservative,” because it does not challenge gender stereotypes,
incorporate multiculturalism, or expose and advocate technology as
would be expected of contemporary literature.
The goal of a perennialist education is to teach students to think
rationally and develop minds that can think critically. Perennialists are
primarily concerned with the importance of mastery of the content and
development of reasoning skills.
Understanding essentialism will enable you to know and improve
basic teaching skills and perennialism will allow you as a teacher to
continue operating in the success of methods, concepts and best
practices that were used in education over time.

- Learner-centered philosophies
 Progressivisim
Student-centered: all learning is active; learning is intellectual,
social, and emotional; curriculum should begin with the child’s interests
and experiences; learners initiate questions emphasis on how to think
(John Dewey)
 Humanism
Student-centered: education should develop free-self actualizing
persons and should begin with the individual self; education should
enhance innate goodness.
 Constructivism
Student-centered: learners generate knowledge and meaning from
an interaction between their experiences and their ideas, problem-based
learning; students encouraged to ask questions and seek own answers.

2. Resistance to change: Managing the shift

Resistance occurs when there is a lack of knowledge, information, skills and
managerial capacity. Whatever its roots, it can inhibit, disrupt or even block change
implementation.
Some tips that can help schools manage resistance:
 Principals need to communicate and consult with their teachers.
Teachers must be given the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of
the change process and they must be given the opportunity to provide
feedback.
 Principals should facilitate teamwork, they should improve their staff to
be involved and provide the right environment and the resources from
staff to take part.
 Reward and recognition help sustain the change.

C. DIMENSIONS of LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

1. The function of content
This includes building a knowledge base, how the instructor and the students
use the content.
2. The role of the instructor
An essential role of the instructor is to assist students to learn.
3. The responsibility for learning
Students should assume greater responsibility for their own learning.
 4. The purposes and processes of assessment
There are additional purposes and processes of assessment beyond assigning
grades. Along with summative assessments, one might also use multiple projects
with self-assessment and reflection, self-tests, feedback about student
understanding of concepts, etc.
5. The balance of power
The balance of power shifts so that the instructor shares some decisions about
the course with the students. Learners even have some power to assist in making
policies for the course.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

1. Interview a teacher about his/her role in the learner-centered teaching.

2. In your own opinion which teacher-centered philosophy works best?
3. Differentiate a teacher-centered teaching from a learner-centered teaching.
Which one is more effective?

Prepared by:

BERNARDITA B. MANALO
Instructor