Designing a learning experience for your students takes time, thought and energy – it can be a challenge to ensure you’re prioritizing the correct things. Knowing your learners is an essential part of effective teaching. In the materials below you can learn techniques for connecting with your students, for building a sense of belonging in your course, and for shaping content. Also, you can find strategies to better communicate the relevance of your subject and to connect it to prior knowledge.
Read, Review, Watch
- “How (and Why) to Design Student Centered Learning Experiences” Workshop Slide Deck
- Understanding Your Learners Guide (developed by NYU Learning Experience Design)
- Tips and Strategies for Getting Feedback from Students (developed by NYU Learning Experience Design
- Teacher Centered v Student Centered Course Design (Stanford University)
Research Articles
- Froyd, J., & Simpson, N. (2008). Student-centered learning: Addressing faculty question about student-centered learning.
- Presented at the Course, Curriculum, Labor, and 24 Improvement Conference, Washington, D.C, this conference presentation addresses common questions that faculty have about student-centered learning such as “Can I use student-centered learning approaches when teaching large classes?” and “Can I move from teacher-centered to student-centered in stages? How?”
- Trinidad, J. E. (2020). Understanding student-centred learning in higher education: students’ and teachers’ perceptions, challenges, and cognitive gaps Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(8), 1013-1023.
- This article shows which of the five facets of student-centered learning (the role of the teacher, the function of content, the responsibility for learning, the purpose of evaluations, and the balance of power) were more evident than the others, and how faculty and students differently perceived student-centered learning
External Resources
- MIT Learner Analysis
- provides guidance that faculty members can consider about the learners and reasoning behind them. It also offers questions that instructors can use to better understand their learners
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- provides questions that faculty members might consider in terms of their students. It also offers learning analysis worksheets that faculty members can utilize.