Background

· a paradigm shift in curriculum

· focusing on the needs of the students

· putting students first, acknowledges student voice

· requires students to be active,

· responsible participants in their own learning is in contrast to teacher-centred learning

· students actively construct their own learning

· the use of valuable learning skills,

· students are capable of achieving life-long learning goals, which can further enhance student motivation in the classroom

benefits

· Strengthens student motivation

· Promotes peer communication

· Reduces disruptive behaviour

· Builds student-teacher relationships

· Promotes discovery/active learning

· Responsibility for one’s own learning

In teacher-directed instruction:

· Students work to achieve curricular objectives in order to become critical thinkers

· Students complete activities designed by the teacher to achieve academic success

· Students respond to positive expectations set by the teacher as they progress through activities

· Students are given extrinsic motivators like grades and rewards in which motivates children to internalize information and objectively demonstrates their understanding of concepts

· Student work is evaluated by the teacher

“Student learning processes are greatly enhanced when they participate in deciding how they may demonstrate their competence in a body of knowledge or the performance of skills.”

Bloom's Taxonomy

Assessment of student-centred learning-the most critical differences

A certain university sought to promote student-centred learning across the entire university by employing the following methods:

· Analysis of good practice by award-winning teachers, in all faculties, to show that, they made use of active forms of student learning.

· Subsequent use the analysis to promote wider use of good practice.

· A compulsory teacher training course for new junior teachers, which encouraged student-centred learning.

· Projects funded through teaching development grants, of which 16 were concerned with the introduction of active learning experiences.

· A programme-level quality enhancement initiative which utilised a student survey to identify strengths and potential areas for improvement.

· Development of a model of a broadly based teaching and learning environment influencing the development of generic capabilities, to provide evidence of the need for an interactive learning environment.

The introduction of programme reviews as a quality assurance measure