UNIT- IV LEARNER CENTRED CURRICULUM

 UNIT- IV LEARNER CENTRED CURRICULUM

Basics of learner-centred approach- The importance of learner-centred evaluation and assessment; Grades; Feedback mechanism; Evaluation; Learning Outcomes; Curriculum and its importance in learner-centred approach; Advantages of learner-centred approach; Disadvantages of learner-centred approach; Social oriented curriculum for social reconstruction

 

Learner-centred approach

It is a method of teaching that shifts the focus of instruction from teacher to the student. Here the aim is to develop the independence of the learner by making learner active in his learning path. It focuses on skills that enable lifelong learning and independent problem-solving. This learner-centred approach is based on constructivist learning theory that put emphasis on learner’s role in constructing meaning from new information and prior experiences. In Learner-centred curriculum approach, students choose what they will learn, how they will learn and how they will assess their own learning. Here students take a more active role. So, student-centred learning requires the student to be active, responsible participants in their own learning and with their own pace of learning. Here the teacher acts as a facilitator of learning for individuals rather than for the class as a whole.

Basics of learner- centred approach

Following are the basic issues of learner- centred approach or learner driven approach:-

• In this approach students clearly, express learning goals that are related to their real-life roles. So students help in the planning of curriculum.
• It builds on what learners already know. This approach is relevant to the student’s real-life context.

·         Learner driven approaches draw upon constructivism. Constructivism is a theory of learning in which people learn when they relate new information and skills to what they already know, actively practice new information and get feedback on their performance.

• In this approach, learners construct their own understanding from what they are exposed to in the classroom and what they have experienced in the rest of their lives.
• To develop learner-centred curriculum, the teacher needs to view learners as active inquirers who use previous experiences (both mental and social) to make meaning of the world.

The Importance of Learner-Centred Evaluation & Assessment

Today's students need to know not only the basic reading and arithmetic skills, but also skills that will allow them to face a world that is continually changing. They must be able to think critically, to analyze, and to make inferences. Changes in the skills base and knowledge our students need require new learning goals; these new learning goals change the relationship between assessment and instruction. Teachers need to take an active role in making decisions about the purpose of assessment and the content that is being assessed.

Learning-Centred Assessment     

Learning- centred assessment is assessment that is designed to help our students learn, not just measure how well they have learned after the learning is over.

The Role of Assessment in Learning

Assessment is used for various purposes.

• Assessment for learning: where assessment helps teachers gain insight into what students understand in order to plan and guide instruction, and provide helpful feedback to students.
• Assessment as learning: where students develop an awareness of how they learn and use that awareness to adjust and advance their learning, taking an increased responsibility for their learning.
• Assessment of learning: where assessment informs students, teachers and parents, as well as the broader educational community, of achievement at a certain point in time in order to celebrate success, plan interventions and support continued progress.

 

 

Grades

Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grading is used to evaluate and provide feedback on student work. In this way, instructors communicate to students how they are performing in the course and where they need more help to achieve the course's goals.

Grading –Types:

·         Grading Percentage– from 0 to 100 percent.

·         Letter Grading and Variations – from A grade to F grade.

·         Standard-referenced Grading– typically comparing students to each other with letter grades.

·         Mastery Grading – Students are rated as 'masters' or 'passers' until their accomplishment reaches a defined level.

Assessment of students integrate grading, learning, and motivation for the students. Carefully planned assessment questions and methods make the time worthwhile spent in grading assignments and test. Five suggestions to help when planning assessment are as follows:

·         Consider what you want your students to learn and tell them

·         Select assignments and tests that measure what you value most

·         Try to ensure that your tests, exams, and assignments are outcome based

·         Test the knowledge and skills that you want students to learn.

·         Help them to be prepared by asking them exam-type questions in class

Feedback mechanism

Feedback is the comments, questions, information, on how students are achieving our, instructors’, predetermined goals. Thus, feedback mechanism includes emoticons, facial expressions, language, tone, body language, gestures, and comments made during the learning process.

Learner-centred feedback provides learners with guidance in evaluating their learning while supporting their learning commitments and perhaps providing remedial exercises. In this type of course, a strong focus on learner input and needs is made. Learning experiences are mediated by the instructors through coaching learners and facilitating learner autonomy of learning and assessment in demonstrating content knowledge and respect for the learner. This provides learning experiences that are relevant and motivating to learners and inspiring for instructors.

Evaluation

Evaluation of curriculum is an integral and essential part of the whole process of curriculum development. It is a continuous activity and not a “tail-end-process”. Evaluation and planning are complementary processes which occur almost simultaneously and continuously. 

Objectives of Curriculum Evaluation

1.   To determine the outcomes of a programme.

2.   To help in deciding whether to accept or reject a programme.

3.   To ascertain the need for the revision of the course content.

4.   To help in future development of the curriculum material for continuous improvement.

5.   To improve methods of teaching and instructional techniques.

Types of Curriculum Evaluation

1.      Formative Evaluation. It occurs during the course of curriculum development. Its purpose is to contribute to the improvement of the educational programme. The merits of a programme are evaluated during the process of its development. The evaluation results provide information to the programme developers and enable them to correct flaws detected in the programme.

2.      Summative Evaluation. In summative evaluation, the final effects of a curriculum are evaluated on the basis of its stated objectives. It takes place after the curriculum has been fully developed and put into operations.

3.      Diagnostic Evaluation. Diagnostic evaluation is directed towards two purposes either for placement of students properly at the outset of an instructional level (such as secondary school),or to discover the underlying cause of deviancies in student learning in any field of study.

 

 

 

 

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes are descriptions of the specific knowledge, skills, or expertise that the learner will get from a learning activity, such as a training session, seminar, course, or program.

Learning outcomes are measurable achievements that the learner will be able to understand after the learning is complete, which helps learners understand the importance of the information and what they will gain from their engagement with the learning activity.

Learning Outcome - Types

1. Intellectual skills

With this type of learning outcome, the learner will understand concepts, rules or procedures. Put simply, this is understanding how to do something.

2. Cognitive strategy

In this type of learning outcome, the learner uses personal strategies to think, organize, learn and behave.

3. Verbal information

This type of learning outcome is when the learner is able to definitively state what they have learned from an organized body of knowledge.

4. Motor skills

This category is concerned with the physical ability to perform actions, achieving fluidity, smoothness or proper timing through practice.

5. Attitude

This is the internal state that reflects in the learner’s behavior. It is complex to quantify but can be shown in the learner’s response to people or situations.

Curriculum and its importance in learner-centred approach

The curriculum provides a lot of help and assistance to the learners like:

·      The curriculum gives students a written detail about the types of learning experiences they need to acquire for completing the expected learning objectives.

·      The curriculum makes them familiar with the learning objectives. This way it makes the tasks of learning purposeful and goal oriented. This purposefulness makes them motivated towards learning as they are aware of the types of behavioral changes expected as learning outcome from the study of a particular subject or doing a certain activity to complement learning.

·      A properly developed curriculum is accompanied by the resource materials needed to supplement it. These resources include suggested experiments, learning activities, projects, assignments, references etc. . These materials are equally important for both teachers and learners.

·      A curriculum is a properly developed framework of the teaching-learning process. It includes learning objectives that should be known to the learners. When learners are aware of the learning objectives they can plan, execute and evaluate them for the realization of the learning outcome of the course being studied.

·      Hence a properly developed curriculum can help the learner in their learning process from beginning to end for the realization of the set learning objectives.

·      Realization of these learning objectives results in overall growth and development in all the aspects and dimensions of their personality.

 

Advantages of learner-centred approach

1.      This approach to curriculum gives power to learners.

2.      Students see their needs clearly reflected in the classroom, which is very motivating.

3.      It creates a direct link between classwork and the learner’s needs.

4.      Learners can easily transfer new skills in day to day activities.

5.      It encourages learners persistence.

Disadvantages of learner-centred approach

1.      It often relies on the teacher’s ability to create materials appropriate to learner’s expressed needs.

2.      It requires more skill on the part of the teacher as well as their time and resources.

3.      It is often difficult for teachers to make an acceptable balance among competing needs and interests of students.

4.      In terms of man, material and resources this approach could be a luxury that learners often can not afford.

 

Social oriented curriculum for Social Reconstruction

Social curriculum is a means to teach students how to interact and empathize with one another. It is how to ensure students feel good about themselves and their relationships. When students learn a social curriculum they are socially aware and emotionally intelligent. 

 

Social Reconstruction curriculum

Social Reconstructionists are interested in the relationship between curriculum and the social, political and economic development of society. Social Reconstructionist are convinced that education can effect social change, citing, for example, literacy campaigns that have contributed to successful political revolutions. Aspects of re-constructionism appeared in American curriculum thought in the 1920s and 1930s. Harold Rugg was concerned about the values for which the school should work. He tried to awaken his peers to the “lag” between the curriculum, a “ lazy giant” and the culture, with its fast-paced change and resultant staggering social dislocations. Rugg‟s textbooks, teaching and professional leadership had one overriding quality- the spirit of social criticism. He wanted learners to use newly emerging concepts from social sciences and aesthetics to identify and solve current problems. In early 1950s, the late Theodore Brameld outlined the distinctive features of social reconstructionism : First, he believed in a commitment to building a new culture. Brameld was infused with the conviction that people are in the midst of a revolutionary period from which the common people will emerge as controllers of the industrial system, public services, and of cultural and natural resources. Second, Brameld felt that the working people should control all principal institutions and resources if the world is to become genuinely democratic. Teachers should ally themselves with the organised working people. A way should be found to enlist the majority of people of all races and religions into a great democratic body with power to enforce its policies. Third Brameld believed that the school should help the individual, not only to develop socially, but to learn how to participate in social planning as well. There are many premises of social reconstruction and the different directions taken by different social re-constructionist such as revolution, critical inquiry, and futurism. A distinction is also made between a curriculum of reconstruction, which attempts to change the social order, and a curriculum of social adaptation, which helps students fit into a world they never made.