Student Perceptions of Learner-Centered Teaching

DeDe Wohlfarth, PsyD

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Spalding University
Daniel Sheras, MA
Jessica L. Bennett, MA
Bethany Simon, BA
Jody H. Pimentel, MS
Laura E. Gabel, MA
Graduate Students, Department of Psychology
Spalding University
The learner-centered paradigm departs from traditional teaching models by focusing
on students more than teachers and learning more than teaching. Thus, classes are
more egalitarian; they emphasize critical thinking, active learning, and real-world
assignments. Graduate students in learner-centered classrooms were surveyed
about perceptions of their experiences in relation to the key dimensions of the
learner-centered paradigm and noted that the approach contributed to their feeling
respected as learners, developed their critical thinking skills, and encouraged their
self-directedness. Based on these findings, post-secondary instructors are
encouraged to experiment with learning-centered approaches to further explore this
promising model.
Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire.
-William Butler
Introduction: Context for Learner-Centered Teaching
Learner-centered teaching (Bilimoria & Wheeler, 1995; Weimer, 2002)
represents a paradigm shift from traditional teaching methods by focusing on how
students learn instead of how teachers teach. Thus, the models conceptual
underpinning is rooted in learning, challenging us to ask the rarely heard question,
How can I improve my students learning? instead of the often asked How can I
improve my teaching? (Weimer, 2002). Weimer outlines the key premises of
learner-centered teaching as:
1) Assume that students are capable learners who will blossom as power
shifts to a more egalitarian classroom.
2) Use content not as a collection of isolated facts, but as a way for students
to critically think about the big questions in the field.
3) Change the role of teacher from sole authoritarian to fellow traveler in
search of knowledge.
4) Return the responsibility for learning to the students, so that they can
understand their learning strengths and weaknesses and feel self-directed
in their knowledge quest.
5) Utilize assessment measures not just to assign grades, but as our most
effective tools to promote learning.
The result of this paradigm shift is that teachers become co-learners with
students, thus blurring the categorical distinction between these two groups. The
broad learner-centered paradigm encapsulates our current understanding of the
best practices in teaching, including an emphasis on active learning (McKeachie &
Svinicki, 2006; Thompson, Licklider, & Jungst, 2003), problem-based learning
(Blumberg, 2007) and, more generally, a thoughtful understanding of what the best
teachers actually do in their classrooms (Bain, 2004). Of particular relevance to the

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present discussion, Bain notes that excellent teachers foster critical thinking, have a
strong trust in students, and are life-long learners themselves.
In response to the learner-centered movement, we have exchanged
copious lecture notes and multi-bullet point slides for a more active, engaging,
collaborative style of teaching. Perhaps we have recognized that our technology,
and our focus on content over thinking, has eroded much of what appealed to us as
teachers in the first place. That is, we became teachers to make a difference in
students lives, and as a socially sanctioned way to shape the values, questions, and
thinking of the next generation (Palmer, 1998). Learner-centered teaching involves
connecting with knowledge and students at the
Learner-centered teaching
same time. We intuitively recognize those rare
involves connecting with
teaching moments when great things are
knowledge and students at
happening in our classroom because we are
the same time.
learning and thinking with our students.
Furthermore, when students become lifelong
learners by developing their critical thinking skills and self-management abilities,
they are more likely to have success in the post-college real world than if they
were merely phenomenal multiple-choice test takers.
Indeed, adopting a learner-centered perspective, with its emphasis on
trusting students and loosening our grip on content-driven lectures, is challenging.
It requires students and professors alike to embrace its inherent contradictions and
paradoxes, including being both a facilitator and an evaluator and being both a
learner and a teacher (Robertson, 2005). At times, learner-centered teaching
demands us to join the students on their learning journey while simultaneously
requiring us to grade their work and evaluate their performance. The degree to
which we can live with these tensions is affected not only by our teaching
orientation, but also where we are in our own teaching/learning journey and how
well we orient students to our new paradigm (Daley, 2003; Mezeske, 2004). As
Ramsey and Fitzgibbons (2005) thoughtfully suggest, learner-centered teaching
requires us to move along a continuum beyond doing something to students
(teaching) to doing something with students (teaching and learning) to being
with students (learning). Even more challenging is moving seamlessly back and
forth along this continuum within single class periods, intuitively recognizing what
learners need from us in the moment.
Although the learner-centered paradigm has become the new buzzword in
the field, empirical support is needed to move the paradigm from a passing trend to
a conceptual pillar of scholarship of teaching and learning. Several researchers have
explored learner-centered concepts with promising early results. For example, Wells
and Jones (2005) examined how teaching informational systems development to
students was improved by using a more collaborative, mentoring style of teaching
instead of a traditional lecture-based style. They utilized small work groups,
personal work portfolios, and student-driven classroom experiences, and reported
higher grades among students in the more collaborative classrooms. They also
suggest that students learned less measurable but still important skills, such as the
ability to work collaboratively and take responsibility for their learning.
Additional support for a learner-centered paradigm comes from Steckol
(2007), who assessed how using formative assessment, a component of learnercentered teaching, enhanced student learning. The formative assessment tools
utilized included one-minute papers to summarize class material and studentgenerated quizzes. Steckol noted that students in the learning-centered section of
the class scored significantly better on the final exam than those in the control
group.
Despite promising early findings, empirical support for learning-centered
models is in its infancy. Data regarding its usefulness, relevance, and effect on
student learning is minimal. A key perspective in understanding the impact of a
learner-centered model is through the eyes of students. The learner-centered model
focuses on student learning instead of instructor teaching; furthermore, the model
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shifts the balance of power in the classroom to the students. Thus, collecting data
from a student perspective is consistent with a learner-centered philosophy, in
which students do something instead of having something done to them. The goal
of this paper is to increase understanding of learner-centered teaching through a
student perspective and add to the body of knowledge so that teachers can better
implement this model.
Methods
Subjects in the current study (n= 21) were enrolled in a graduate
psychology program at a small liberal arts school in the southeastern United States.
The learner-centered classes were taught by one professor but spanned two courses
during the 2007-2008 academic year. The courses included an introduction to
counseling course (1st year graduate students) and a child psychopathology course
(primarily 3rd year graduate students). The students in both classes were told that
their courses would be taught in a learner-centered style, and this term was
explained to them, including describing Weimers five tenets outlined in this text.
Although learner-centered ideals focus on less-quantifiable concepts of
relationships and trust, the following adjustments were also made to the course
design to reflect a learner-centered philosophy:

Classroom activities focused less on prepared lectures and more on

student-driven questions and discussion about the reading. Several classes
reflected problem-based learning, in that a complex clinical case from one
student was the basis for the class discussion. Thus, a typical class period
might have included an experiential group activity related to the topic;
processing of this activity; each student sharing the topic s/he would most
like to discuss in relation to the reading; the professor and students jointly
deciding how to focus the group discussion from this list of possibilities;
and mini-lecturettes from the professor punctuating the discussion. At the
end of class, students were asked to summarize key ideas and the
relevance of their learning today to their work and lives. Alternatively, an
entire classroom period might have been spent struggling with a studentgenerated clinical case, discussing the diagnostic, clinical, and ethical
implications of course of treatment.

Multiple-choice quizzes, which primarily tapped students memorization

skills, were replaced with weekly homework assignments, in which
students were asked to apply, integrate, or evaluate the assigned reading.
These homework assignments might include integrating ideas from this
class with another class; applying key ideas to an actual clinical case; or
doing related research by reading and summarizing a related article to the
homework.

All professors notes were available to students via Blackboard prior to

classes. Furthermore, students were also provided with the quizzes they
would have taken were they not in a learner-centered class.

Students determined the content of their research papers and were invited
to turn in as many drafts of their papers as they desired, receiving
formative, but not evaluative, feedback on each draft.

Students chose their own assignments from a possible portfolio of options.

They were also encouraged to develop their own assignments to replace
instructor suggestions.

Students chose their own due dates for assignments, within certain
parameters to allow for thoughtful feedback from the instructor.

Students were asked to write an end-of-semester self-assessment,

focusing on their learning strengths/weaknesses, their assessment of the
type and depth of learning in the class, and what they believed their final
grade should be. This paper demanded a high level of student reflective
thinking.
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At the end of the semester, data was collected through anonymous

supplemental student course evaluations that were based on the work of Brookfield
(1995). This evaluation form asked students when they felt most
engaged/disengaged in the class, what hindered/helped their learning; their
perceptions of the instructors strengths and weaknesses; and the most important
skills, attitudes, and concepts they learned. An additional evaluation form was
created to assess the five tenets of learner-centered classrooms, as described by
Weimer (2002). This form asked students to complete two Likert scales regarding 1)
the extent to which each of the five tenets occurred (on a scale of 1-5) and 2) how
important this change was to their learning (on a scale of 1-5). They also had the
opportunity to comment about their perceptions of the class, including how (or if)
the learner-centered components contributed to their learning, and strengths and
challenges of the paradigm.
Results and Discussion
In examining the first of Weimers tenets, that power should be returned to
students as they are capable learners who will blossom in an egalitarian classroom,
the response from students on the supplemental course evaluations was
unanimously positive. In terms of students perceptions of the extent to which the
power of the classroom was returned to them, 71.4% of students noted that this
occurred very often (4 on Likert scale) and 86% of students noted that this shift
in the balance of power was either very or unbelievably important to their
learning. Qualitative data further supported that students perceived that they were
being respected as fellow co-learners in the search for knowledge, as epitomized by
the following quote:

I have truly enjoyed this class, and the way it was designed
as a learner-centered experience. I feel that it was the first
time I was treated as a competent and intelligent person who
could be trusted with her learning experience.
In understanding the implications of these findings, it seems that students can
perceive whether professors inherently trust them, and that they predominately
respond to this trust in a positive way.
Weimers second tenet of learner-centered classrooms is that content is
used as a vehicle to promote critical thinking about conceptual questions underlying
the field, instead of as isolated facts to be memorized. Interestingly, 100% of
students responding noted that this focus on deeper critical thinking skills, such as
integration, application, and evaluation, instead of an emphasis on memorization,
did occur. All students responding (100%) noted that this shift was very or
unbelievably important to their learning. Again, students were markedly positive
in their responses:

Generally, I believe the learner-centered style of teaching is more

helpful to me than traditional lecture-style instruction. I believe
that I learn best when there is some, but not an overwhelming
amount, of structure. In lecture-style classrooms, I absorb some
information and I may answer or may not ask a question, but the
most important and useful learning comes from being pushed to
critically think about the information. This simply does not occur in
lecture focused classrooms.

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I learn best when I can find personal significance in the material I

am studying. In other words, I need to view information not just
as a bunch of facts, but also as whole concepts. This class, for the
most part, highly stimulated my learning style. For me, class
discussions were helpful because it helped me synthesize
information and gave relevance to the topics.

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These findings imply that students are not only capable of deeper levels of critical
thinking, but understand when such thinking is happening as compared to lower
level thinking skills such as memorization. No students surveyed were frustrated by
a loss of content covered, despite professors often expressing concerns about
reducing the amount of content covered as one of the stumbling blocks to adopting
a learner-centered paradigm (Weimer, 2002).
Regarding Weimers third tenet, that a more egalitarian classroom is
established and that professors are seen as fellow travelers on a learning journey,
working alongside of students instead of delivering nuggets of knowledge from the
academic mountaintop, 97.9% of students felt that an egalitarian classroom had
developed and a similar percentage (92.5%) felt that this shift was critical to their
learning.

I really appreciate that from the first moment of class, and

throughout the entire semester, you set up a comfortable learning
environment. This makes such a huge difference in a class!

This class has been quite a departure from the teaching style that
I have had in the pastand I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like the fact
that we were ableto say what we wanted without the fear of
being terribly wrong or shunned by the professor.

Your comments on my papers made me feel like each week that

you and I had our own personal discussion on the topic.
However, some remnants of the older teaching-centered paradigm remain
for students, as noted by the following comment:

There were a few times when my views on things differed than

yours. This was probably the only time that I felt nervous about
talking. I guess, even in this round-table like classroom setting, I
still view you as the head.
This comment likely reflects the difficulty some students have in adjusting to a more
egalitarian classroom, even when they are primed for such a change and
encouraged throughout the semester to find
their own voices and challenge the professor.
The optimum behavior in a
The optimum behavior in a learner-centered
learner-centered classroom
classroom is, in many ways, a stark contrast to
is, in many ways, a stark
much of the behavior encouraged by traditional
contrast to much of the
classrooms, where students are passive note
behavior encouraged by
takers, unquestioning receivers of knowledge
traditional classrooms,
from an expert. It seems that students are
where students are passive
hungry for the changes brought about by
note takers, unquestioning
learner-centered teaching, but that adjusting to
receivers of knowledge from
them can be somewhat difficult and create some
an expert.
anxiety. In general, however, students are able
to perceive and articulate what an egalitarian classroom looks like, perhaps from the
very first class session.
In learner-centered classrooms, as Weimer notes in her fourth tenet, the
control of learning is returned to the student so that students determine the timing
of their assignments and become acquainted with their own learning style so as to
better self-assess their learning. 90.5% of students agreed that this change had
happened in their learner-centered classrooms, and 90.4% of students believed that
being self-directed in their learning was important for them. Students comments
again support that they were positive about this change, although with some
trepidation:

The learner centered style of class was very different from what I
have experienced in other classes. I was not sure how I would like
it because so much of the responsibility was on me to make sure
that I did everything on time without reminders from professor
along the way. But it worked!

I have somewhat mixed feelings about learner-centered teaching.

This may partly be due to the ingrained style of learning that I
InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching
71

have used for so long. Up until this point, I have almost always
had some sort of quiz or test to assess my understanding of
information. And I like it when professors provide a lot of
structure because that puts me in my comfort zone of knowing
exactly what to do. By creating less structured assignments, there
was more responsibility on me to figure out what was appropriate.
As anxiety-provoking as this initially was, I think that it is a
realistic representation of what our jobs and professions will
someday be like.

Being able to determine when I wanted to turn in assignments as

opposed to being told when these assignments were due was an
incredible stress reducer Being encouraged to hand in rough
drafts expressed to me that the essay assignments were not
about a grade, rather a learning experience.
In understanding the implications of these results, students do seem to initially
struggle with the simultaneous freedom and responsibility inherent in a learnercentered model, perhaps mirroring what many first-year college students feel. But if
such responsibility is balanced by large measures of support, as is apparent when
students feel trusted, they respond well to the challenge.
Weimers fifth tenet is critical: that assessment measures contribute to
student learning and not just towards establishing a grade for individual students.
Regarding the extent to which this happened, 100% of students agreed that
assessment measures did contribute to student learning and 95.3% felt that this
change was important to their learning. Again, students comments were mostly
positive in regard to how assessment measures were used, although some students
noted some struggles in adapting to a different way of measuring learning:

I sometimes viewed the flexible method of homework as a

loophole to high accountability (however, I suppose this final selfassessment of learning is holding me accountable!)

The homework assignments changed the way I read. Rather than

reading to memorize facts or lists, I thought about bigger
questions. Instead of narrowing my focus by reading, I was
expanding it. This allowed me to critically think about the articles
we read, rather than just memorizing information for a quiz. For
me, this fostered a sense of evaluating our reading rather than
accepting itWhen reading exclusively for a quiz, I tend to
remember isolated facts rather than larger concepts from the text.
Additionally, the information does not necessarily stay committed
to memory for very long.

In all honesty, I read the assignments twice when in preparation

for my reflection papers, where I would only read once and then
re-scan to prepare for quizzes. It seems counterintuitive, but I
spent more time reading the assignments after we stopped taking
quizzes than I did before.
Somewhat
ironically,
students
Somewhat ironically,
worked harder and smarter when less
students worked harder and
emphasis was placed on grades, pop quizzes,
smarter when less emphasis
and memorization. These results help abate a
was placed on grades, pop
fear
associated
with
learner-centered
quizzes, and memorization.
thinking: that students wont learn unless we
use giant sticks, in the form of points, to
prod them into working. Instead, they worked even harder when they were working
for carrots: specific, timely feedback from the professor and earning greater
amounts of trust.
Overall, judging by these students perceptions, learner-centered teaching
does seem to offer some potential as a pedagogical style which helps promote
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critical thinking and assist students in becoming life-long learners. But students did
have some concerns about shifting to an entirely learner-centered paradigm,
particularly with regard to what happens in the classroom hour itself. Several
students suggested that the optimal method to encourage their learning was a
blend of traditional teaching and more learner-centered concepts, noting some
frustration with class discussions and a desire for some organization and emphasis
on key concepts to ensure that they did not get lost:

My conclusion about learner-centered teaching is that both teachercentered and learner-centered styles have positives and negatives. I do
feel like I got more out of the critical thinking (learner-centered) approach
because I had to take control of my learning. Overall, I think I did better
with the balance of lecture and discussion that we found towards the
middle of the semester.

I find it interesting that the freedom of the discussions that was so

powerful was also their weakness.
In understanding these and other student comments, it seems that a
balance between traditional teaching methods and learner-centered teaching may
indeed be the intellectual sweet spot for students in that professors retain enough
control of the classroom to organize key concepts for students in a meaningful way,
even if this means thoughtfully reining in student discussions at times.
Conclusions and Future Directions
In summarizing the overall findings, graduate students in learning-centered
classrooms agreed that their classroom experiences were indeed learner-centered,
as described by Weimer (2002). Furthermore, they noted that the paradigm
changes they experienced were extremely important in helping them learn.
Qualitative data collected, in the form of student quotes, strongly supported the
move to a learner-centered paradigm as a positive shift. However, students also
note some frustration with not having the skills to flourish in a learner-centered
environment, including struggling to participate
in focused discussions about the assigned
It may be that a learnerreading and in holding themselves accountable
centered attitude, learnerfor assignments, although they clearly see the
centered relationships, and
importance of developing these skills. Students
a learner-centered course
also perceive that the professor should retain
design structure best
more control of the classroom experience itself
complements a quasiso that critical concepts did not get lost. It may
learner-centered style in the
be that a learner-centered attitude, learnerclassroom, in which the
centered relationships, and a learner-centered
professor retains relatively
course design structure (e.g. multiple drafts of
more power in controlling
papers, formative assessment, low stakes
the learning experiences,
assignments, in-depth homework assignments
discussions, and small
instead of quizzes/tests) best complements a
group work of students.
quasi-learner-centered style in the classroom, in
which the professor retains relatively more power in controlling the learning
experiences, discussions, and small group work of students.
Future research is needed to definitively answer some of the questions
about learner-centered teaching. Like all work in the field of scholarship of teaching
and learning, one must be cautious in generalizing results due to the limited scope
of the experiences of a few select classes led by a single teacher. Studies are
needed with larger sample sizes and multiple professors across academic subjects
to determine if variations exist within these variables. Undergraduate compared to
graduate student responses may also differ in terms of their perceptions of learnercentered teaching. Additionally, quasi-experiments in real-world classrooms, which
set up two different conditions of learning (one learning-centered and one more
traditional) will help answer questions about the impact of learner-centered teaching
InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching
73

on students perceptions of learning, actual content knowledge learned, and the

students depth of thinking about and understanding of the conceptual
underpinnings of their chosen field.
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Weimer, M. (2002). Learner-centered
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DeDe Wohlfarth is a tenured Associate Professor at Spalding University in the School

of Professional Psychology. She has twice won a Kentuckiana Metroversity Award for
teaching excellence and has presented at the International Lilly Conference on
College Teaching. Her research interests include the scholarship of teaching and
learner-centered teaching.
Daniel Sheras, Jess Bennett, Bethany Simon, Jody Pimentel and Laura Gabel are
doctoral students in clinical psychology at Spalding University; all are interested in
SOTL theory, research, and practice. They are part of a student-teacher
collaborative research group collecting qualitative data on learner-centered teaching
approaches.
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