Student-centred learning?

jocene — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:05:58 +0000

My understanding of student-centered learning rejoices in a process that starts from the student’s perspective. As that clever ad that is cited in David’s weblog suggests, one’s judgement of a given situation may vary according to perspective. Student-centred learning, as opposed to teacher-centred learning, empowers the learner. The term is possibly an extension of Carl Roger’s take on ‘client-centred psychology’, which purports to start a ‘where it is at’ for the patient. Rogers explains,

Unlike other therapies in which the skills of the therapist are to be exercised upon the client. in this approach the skills of the therapist are focussed upon creating a psychological atmosphere in which the client can work.

As facilitators of student-centred learning, do we not create an atmosphere, a personal learning environment in which the learner can work? In client-centred therapy, the patient determines the direction of the treatment; in student-centred pedagogy, the learner is similarly empowered.

In my early blog, when I referred to the “underpinning philosophy of student-centred education’, the context of the comment was in respect to Web 2. My uninformed assumption (which may or may not be valid, for I am yet to convince myself) in the blog was that the phenomena of Web 2 is underpinned with regard for student-based learning. Web 2 appears to fly in the face of central management systems that assume general starting points for all users. But David seems to be asking me something else:

So my question for Jocene is, what is the underpinning philosophy of student-centred education?

Rather than my take on student-centred learning in the Web 2 context of that first blog, he seems to be asking for a more gereral view of the pedagogical perspective of student-centred learning, and I hope that my above response makes a start in that direction. Maybe someone might add to this?

Now! What’s all this about?

… whatever we perceive is organized into patterns for which we the perceivers are largely responsible

shapes, are located in depth and have permanence…. As time goes on and experience builds up, we make greater investment in our system of labels. So a conservative bias is built in. It gives us confidence.

My first questions are about Mary’s perspective and its context within a particular, psychological school of thought. Now come on, Mary. We may be paranoid but it doesn’t mean they are not after us, and it may give us confidence but that doesn’t negate its ontological significance.

The link containing this quotation talks about pattern entrainment. (Reminiscent for me of my dog training days, and “shaping” methods of behaviour management – they work, but so does electro-shock therapy) She reminds us that,

Humans use patterns to order the world and make sense of things in complex situations.

I have no argument there. But I think there’s more. It’s more complex than just that. What concerns me a little, is the implication that these patterns are random and meaningless – “a conservative bias is built in (and) it gives us confidence”. Now call me a Jungian (as if that’s a bad thing), but I think that most of our pattern forming, and consequent learning, occurs during altered states of consciousness. Reference to the “aha” moment is now common. When we dream, or meditate, or aha, we experience a mind-state through which we know via images and patterns. It’s not just about salivating dogs and NLP – is it?

The links to cognitive-based explanations explain in mental mode the virtues of starting where the learner is at. If we haven’t got the grooves, the stuff won’t stick. That’s ok, but that’s just part of the picture, I dare say. I believe, and I will argue in a future blog, that student-based learning might also embrace an individual’s spiritual growth and knowing through what Gebser calls, magical, mythical and integral consciousness. Cognition is over-rated – do you think?

Hello CCK08 fellow participants

jocene — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:06:34 +0000

My name is Jocene. I am about to embark on some journeys – physical and epistemological – and all of them are taking me into this this area of “connectivism”. Presently, I live in Gembrook, in the south of Australia. The picture shows my little farm view after a recent snowfall. I am about to move north to Rockhampton, to take up a position at Central Queensland University. This means I won’t be cool any more. I’m out of my comfort zone with some of the Web 2 speak, but I am at ease with the underpinning philosophy of student-centred education.

I am curiously engaged by the reading materials. Some of the terminology is new to me, but I feel an intrinsic appreciation of what (at first) stikes me as a refreshing, post-positivist perspective.

Jocene.

This course has already brought me some success. This is my first go at blogging.

Jocene.

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Student-centred learning?

Hello CCK08 fellow participants