What is Learner-Centered Education?
Simply put, learner-centered education is an educational approach that places students at the center of their learning. Rather than traditional teaching methods in which teachers act as the experts and conveyers of knowledge, a learner-centered approach recognizes that students are unique, each entering the education system with their own needs, abilities, perspectives, and interests. With a student-centered approach, teachers focus on providing personalized learning pathways to their students and have them take a more active role in the learning process, making choices about what and how they learn. This blog outlines the benefits of a learner-centered approach to education and offers ways school districts can support implementing personalized learning paths in their districts.
3 Benefits of Learner-Centered Education
1. Increased Student Engagement and Motivation
When students have a say in their learning, they are more engaged and motivated. In learner-centered education, students have more opportunities to take ownership of their learning journey, providing voice and choice in how and what they learn. This, in turn, helps students become more invested and engaged in their learning. With student engagement having an impact on student achievement, learner-centered models can play a critical role in the overall success of a district’s students.
2. Improved Durable Skills and Student Career-Readiness
Learner-centered education emphasizes the development of durable skills like communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking. With a learner-centered model, collaboration plays a critical role, allowing students to work together and develop their communication skills. Additionally, learner-centered education often emphasize hands-on learning opportunities, such as project-based learning, in which students are often presented with real-world problems and are encouraged to think critically and creatively to solve them. This approach helps students develop essential problem-solving skills that are valuable in everyday life and future careers.
In their High Demand for Durable Skills report, America Succeeds found that 7 out of the 10 most requested skills in job posts are durable, with communication and problem-solving among them. With today’s employers looking for durable skills as a key hiring indicator, adopting learner-centered education will help your students become career-ready and more attractive to future employers when they enter the workforce.
3. Personalized Learning Experiences
Every student beings their educational journey at a different starting point. They have unique skills, perspectives, and needs. Additionally, students don’t all progress at the same pace, and what works to support one student may not work for another. With learner-centered education, in which students have a voice and choice in how they learn and demonstrate their learning, personalized learning experiences are at the forefront, allowing all students’ needs to be met and all learners to experience success.
3 Ways School Districts Can Implement Student-Centered Education
Transitioning to learner-centered education offers many benefits, but making this shift requires the right resources, careful planning, and strategic implementation. This approach focuses on personalizing learning to cater to individual student needs, promoting mastery over seat time, and leveraging technology to enhance educational experiences. Below are three effective strategies for school districts to successfully adopt a learner-centered education model.
1. Competency-Based Education
Competency-based education (CBE) shifts the focus from seat time to mastery of skills and knowledge and naturally ties into a learner-centered education model. In a CBE system, personalized learning paths are at the forefront and students must demonstrate mastery of a concept before they progress, ensuring that all students can experience success before moving on.
Implementing CBE requires changes in assessment practices and teaching practices. However, once implemented, CBE provides more room for personalized learning to accommodate diverse learning needs.
Are you a competency-based education district? Download the K-12 Guide to Choosing a CBE Platform.
2. Portrait of a Graduate
Many states and districts across the United States are developing a Portrait of a Graduate. A Portrait of a Graduate outlines the skills and competencies that students should possess upon graduation. This vision serves as a north star for all district initiatives, including strategic plan development, instructional strategies, and assessment practices. A Portrait of a Graduate keeps learners at the center of all decisions the district is making, ensuring that each decision moves students further along the path to developing these competencies, skills, and dispositions.
3. Integration of Technology
As learner-centered education and personalized learning paths go hand-in-hand, technology can play a key role in enabling educators to effectively and efficiently implement this model in their classrooms. When considering educational technology, districts should look for tools designed to support a personalized, learner-centered education model, such as ePortfolios that place digital documentation and reflection in the hands of the students.
Learner-centered education is a transformation in how we approach teaching and learning. By focusing on each student’s needs and abilities, school districts can help all of their learners be more engaged and motivated, develop durable skills, and experience success.
