Student-Centered Learning

The flexible delivery of course material in an online course enables students to learn in their own way, at their own time and pace, and allows students to be involved in the key decisions about their learning. Student-centered online courses: utilize courseware management systems that allow student independence; provide for self-assessment opportunities; include multi-tiered, hypertextual (hyperlinks) organization of content to accommodate student's abilities and interests; have effective communication systems for discussion among students and between students and instructors; include highly interactive and stimulating learning materials; and use effective assessment mechanisms allow students to create individually tailored paths to master the instructional goals, moving at their own speed and retrieving additional information as needed.

The ability of online instruction to facilitate student-centered learning is one factor that is contributing to its rapid growth, as educators recognize the value of students' active involvement in the learning process.

Self-Directed Learning

In "Developing Learner Self-Direction in a Webcentric Learning Environment," Rita-Marie Conrad states that students who excel at distance learning can be characterized as "self-directed," that is: they work well in isolation they have time management skills they set goals for themselves they self-evaluate they make use of available educational resources (109). How can an instructor help students advance as self-directed learners? Conrad provides the following table.

Self-Direction Stage	Instructional Strategies	Tools/Method
Stage 1 - Dependent	Provide timely feedback on assignments State expectations early in the course Structure content so that it can easily be followed	Email--Be very explicit in instructions, in order to reduce learners' anxiety A thorough syllabus; either posted to the web, emailed, or located in the Discussion Area Introductory email, discussion or chat.
Stage 2 - Interested	Progressively decrease the student's dependency on the instructor Provide opportunities for reflective thought	Begin to assign instructional roles to student Have students keep an online journal
Stage 3 - Involved	Build a sense of community Have students give feedback on peers' projects and papers	Assign peer reviews Provide material in the discussion area and ask (or require) student participation Begin collaborative projects
Stage 4 - Self Directed	Learners design and develop activities Learners "get a say" in the learning process...State their goals, and evaluate themselves Expert resources are utilized	Have students begin discussions and then facilitate them Assign collaborative projects Assign self-directed projects Have students complete an "Ask an Expert" activity
Conrad, Rita-Maire. "Developing Learner Self-Direction in a Webcentric Learning Environment." Presentation. 15th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. 1999. In a student-centered course, differing learning styles are accommodated, as students take advantage of multimedia components of online courses, collaborate either synchronously or asynchronously with other students and instructors, and receive course content in the most comfortable manner available (reading online vs. file download and printing.) Learning styles are addressed in Lesson 2.

Levels of Performance

Charlotte Danielson provides the following levels of performance for elements of student-centered courses:

	Unsatisfactory	Basic	Proficient	Distinguished
Element
Quality of Discussion Questions	confusing or poorly worded; do not encourage responses	some questions invite limited responses	high quality; adequate time is available for student responses	high quality; adequate time is available for student responses; students formulate their own questions
Discussion Techniques	interaction is predominantly recitation style	some attempt is made to engage students in a true discussion, with uneven results	interaction; true discussion, instructor steps aside when appropriate	students assume considerable responsibility for the success of discussions, initiating topics and making unsolicited contributions.
Student Participation in Discussions	few students participate	instructor attempts to engage students, with limited success	instructor successfully engages all students	students themselves ensure that all voices are heard

Learning Activities	activities are not suitable for students or instructional goals; activities do not follow an organized progression	some suitable activities; progression of activities is uneven	most activities are suitable, progression of activities is fairly even	activities are highly relevant to students and instructional goals; activities progress coherently
Instructional Materials and Resources	materials do not support the instructional goals or engage students in meaningful learning	some material supports instructional goals; some success in engaging the student	all materials support instructional goals; most materials engage students	all materials support instructional goals; most materials engage students; evidence of student participation in selecting or adapting materials
Lessons and Course Structure	no clearly defined structure; time allocations are unrealistic	recognizable structure in place, but not uniformly maintained	clearly defined structure in place	clearly defined structure in place; content is multi-tiered and hypertextual, allowing for differing student needs

Danielson, Charlotte. Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. 1999.