Classroom learning isn't as linear as it once used to be - gone are the days of a teacher lecturing at the front of the class and a board rubber hurling across the room because students were finding the death-by-PowerPoint presentation truly an almost life-ending experience. The student-centered learning examples we'll discuss are the innovation higher-education classrooms need.
And even more recently than that, it wouldn't be a board rubber hurling across the room (no longer ethically or lawfully correct), but instead, it would be a classroom full of zombies. Studies show that within one hour, most students have forgotten 50% of the information, growing to 70% within 24 hours, and 90% within a week.
There was a dire need for the rapid transformation of the classroom environment, targeting how students learn and moving away from the outdated lecture techniques that were draining the souls of students. And for lecturers, there was an even more dire need to discover new ways to engage students, with a new study revealing traditional stand-and-deliver lecturers are 1.5 times more likely to make their students fail.
Below, we'll discuss some of the most innovative student-centered learning examples that feed the hungry appetites of students who want to learn but haven't always been given the environments they need.
Experiential Learning
70% of what we learn comes from hands-on experience - this has to be one of the best student-centered learning examples we can give you that nurtures the student's growth and understanding of the foundation of the course.
Connecting higher-education students with experiential learning experiences will engage your learners like never before, connecting them with relevant leading businesses within their course niche for almost limitless learning potential.
Hands-on experience teaches students aspects of the course a presentation will simply never do.
Simulation Learning - Business Focused
Experiential learning feeds into simulation learning, and we want to focus on business-based learning. Why should it make sense that students must wait until their course finishes to get their first experience with hands-on training? One study found that 47.8% of entry-level graduate jobs require prior experience - but how does that make sense for entry-level graduates who are busy learning, studying, doing exams, and perhaps trying to make a few extra dollars with a weekend job? It's a total career epidemic plaguing the job market, and simulation and experiential learning are the answer.
Bring the business world to your students with realistic business simulations that mirror the competitive business landscape. It's the perfect way to take the ideas you're presenting to them and put them into a practical learning environment where students can see how the actions and decisions they make would play out in a real-world business environment.
This interactive and immersive learning experience will give your students a deeper understanding of business environments that are almost unattainable without incurring costs - either time or actual financial costs - for students.
Collaborative Learning
Collaborative learning is more commonplace in higher education, and the foundations of why it works make so much sense. Like the other methods we've discussed, collaborative learning is practical learning, taking students away from traditional teaching models and instead giving them a way to put their learning into practice.
There are some considerations with this one. Group focus, size, and learning levels are all to be considered. Teachers are best off selecting the groups - despite it being higher education, students will still pick based on their social preferences, and failing that, the people they think match their knowledge level. Teachers should be around 4-6 students - the optimal group size range - and create a group of mixed abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.
Define clear goals and objectives before setting the groups free to work on the task, define what's expected from the group, and perhaps make the group select roles for each member before starting the student-centered activities.
Project-Based Learning
More than a third of higher-education students say they learn best through interactive student-centered activities - project-based learning is one of the best ways to achieve that.
Project-based learning is the perfect way to combine research with a practical learning experience that encourages students to integrate real-world relevance with more complicated problem-solving. Students must use critical thinking, collaboration, and communication to meet the requirements of the learning.
We'd say the best project-based learning should combine collaboration with other students, creating a more comprehensive study experience where every member of the group contributes by finding the knowledge needed to complete the project to the highest level.
Research published looking at 17 studies found that students' content knowledge, conceptual understanding, and course achievement were reported outcomes of project-based learning.
Choice and Control Learning
Sometimes, students want to learn how they want to learn. You've probably heard of some of the different styles of learning:
- Kinesthetic
- Reading and writing
- Visual
- Auditory
- Interpersonal
There's not a one-size-fits-all approach to learning, and as higher educators, you must understand that by the time students reach a higher education level, they know exactly how they learn best.
Giving students choice and control of their learning is essential for the best learning outcomes.
Assessing Student Learning
You're giving your students all these learning methods, but how are you assessing it?
Ongoing assessment of learning is essential. Traditional exams shouldn't be the only measure of assessing student learning - in fact, we'd say this is an almost stone-age approach to seeing how well your students are retaining the course content.
Instead, focus on innovative assessments like mini-simulations and assessments periodically throughout the course, showing you and your students the sections they need to improve. You can also think about project-based assessments, reflective journals, etc. By focusing on these assessment methods, everyone involved with the learning experience has a more comprehensive understanding of how they're performing.
Which teaching methods do you think will yield the best results for your students? We're lucky to be going through a complete education overhaul, where these student-centered learning examples are becoming the forefront of helping students excel.
