LEARNERCENTERED ELEARNING Learnercentered model Learner Learning Learner Knowledge

LEARNER-CENTERED ELEARNING

Learner-centered model Learner Learning Learner Knowledge Learner-centered principles (LCPs) • Cognitive and Metacognitive • Motivational and Affective • Developmental and Social • Individual Differences Learning

Cognitive and metacognitive factors 1. Nature of the learning process. The learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an intentional process of constructing meaning from information and experience. 2. Goals of the learning process. The successful learner, over time and with support and instructional guidance, can create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge. 3. Construction of knowledge. The successful learner can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful ways. 4. Strategic thinking. The successful learner can create and use a range of thinking and reasoning strategies to achieve complex learning goals. 5. Thinking about thinking. Higher order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental operations facilitate creative and critical thinking. 6. Context of learning. Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology, and instructional practices.

Motivational and affective factors 7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning. What and how much is learned is influenced by the learner's motivation. Motivation to learn, in turn, is influenced by the individual's emotional states. 8. Intrinsic motivation to learn. The learner's creativity, higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all contribute to motivation to learn. Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and providing for personal choice and control. 9. Effects of motivation on effort. Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires extended learner effort and guided practice. Without the learner's motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is unlikely without coercion.

Developmental and social factors 10. Developmental influences on learning. As individuals develop, there are different opportunities and constraints for learning. Learning is most effective when differential development within and across physical, intellectual, emotional, and social domains is taken into account. 11. Social influences on learning. Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations and communication with others.

Individual differences 12. Individual differences in learning. Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a function of prior experience and heredity. 13. Learning and diversity. Learning is most effective when differences in learners' linguistic, cultural, and social backgrounds are taken into account. 14. Standards and assessment. Setting appropriately high and challenging standards and assessing the learner as well as learning progress are integral parts of the learning process.

Recommendations for learner-centered e-learning Establish a safe environment and a sense of community: To create an inviting electronic learning community, require students to introduce themselves to foster shared knowledge and mutual understanding among Web-course participants. (LCPs 6 & 11) Use the potential of the medium for deeper student engagement: create learning activities that take advantage of the characteristics and assets of the medium, rather than duplicating activities that typify conventional classrooms. (LCPs 1, 2, 3, 4 &6) Let there be choice: students need opportunities to explore web databases, join conversations they find interesting, and select from class assignment options.

Recommendations for learner-centered e-learning Facilitate, don't dictate: instructors should not interfere too much in students' learning. While students certainly are anxious for feedback on their class contributions and are curious about the instructor's position on a topic, they typically want this after they have wrestled with key issues or problems on their own or in their small groups. (LCPs 2, 9 & 11) Use public and private forms of feedback: A major difference between conventional and e-learning courses is that students in the former usually submit written work to the instructor without others seeing it. In contrast, when an assignment is conducted in a class-wide electronic conferencing environment, students can view peer contributions and associated time/date stamps. (LCPs

Recommendations for learner-centered e-learning Vary the forms of electronic mentoring and apprenticeship: peers in the same class, or different sections of the same class, can be effective electronic mentors or e-mail pals since they operate in common zones of proximal development (LCPs 6, 7, 8, 9 & 11) Employ recursive assignments that build from personal Knowledge: Course assignments should be integrative and build upon each other. (LCPs 1, 3, 8, 9, 10, & 13) Vary the forms of electronic writing, reflection, and other pedagogical activities: For those who hold that writing enhances thinking, the Web may be viewed as a gigantic thinking tool. (LCPs 3, 8, 12& 13)

Recommendations for learner-centered e-learning Use student Web explorations, to enhance course content: one of the primary reasons to teach on the Web is to encourage student knowledge explorations and search skills (LCPs 2, 3, 4, 8, 12 &14) Provide clear expectations and prompt task structuring: students in a Web course require detailed task clarity as well as appropriate and timely instructional guidance in such tasks (LCPs 2, 9, 11 & 14) Embed thinking skill and portfolio assessment as an integral part of nib assignments: use rubrics and checklists (LCPs 1 -5 & 14) Look for ways to personalize the Web experience: a Web class can be an extremely lonely existence. (LCPs 6, 8 &