Best Practices

Instructor Centered ("Sage on the Stage")

The learning objective is usually the transfer of knowledge, information or skills from the instructor to the students. The instructor more or less controls the material to be learned and the pace of learning while presenting the course content to students. The purpose of learning is to acquire and memorize new knowledge or skills.

Learner Centered ("Guide on the Side")

The underlying philosophy is that students learn best not only by receiving knowledge but also by interpreting it, learning through discovery while also setting the pace of their own learning. Instructors coach and mentor students to facilitate learning, designing experiences through which students acquire new knowledge and develop new skills.

Active Learning

Active Learning encourages students to be actively engaged in the learning process. One method for promoting active learning (usually related to reading assignments) is the SQ4R method. This method can also be applied to actively involving students in class activities:

• Scan or Survey (provide an overview and/or outline of the topic)
• Question (provide questions or have students formulate questions)
• Read (provide clear concise material for students to read then allow them to develop answers to the questions provided by the instructor or students)
• Recite (Students can reword the main ideas in the lessons using short answers or short essays)
• Recall (Use the same questions presented at the beginning of the lesson and/or student questions.)
• Review (Review the material. Use some real-world examples.)

Dig-Deeper into Active Learning

This topic is closely related to Alternative Assignments and Assessments. Suggested activities are included in the next section of this tutorial. For further reading, follow the links listed below:

Active Learning by By L. Dee Fink

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/active.htm

Same link as above but linked to the home page of a Teaching and Learning site.

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/teachtip.htm

Another perspective on Active Learning

http://www.cat.ilstu.edu/additional/active.php

Web-Based Active Learning Tips

http://members.shaw.ca/mdde615/howactive.htm