Learning-centered is a philosophy that is a culmination of work by several
authors – the most noted of which are: Peter Senge, Robert Barr and
John Tagg, John E. Roueche, Maryellen Weimer and Dr. Terry O’Banion.
Peter
Senge placed heavy emphasis on “systems thinking” in his 1990 text,
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization,
to help company employees “shift from seeing parts to seeing wholes, from
seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants
in shaping their reality, from reacting to the present to creating the
future” (Senge, 1990, p. 69).
Robert
Barr and John Tagg expanded the learning organization concept to
include higher education with their 1995 article, “From Teaching to
Learning – A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education.” Here, they helped
define the learning movement as a paradigm shift where colleges ultimately
“create environments and experiences that bring students to discover and
construct knowledge for themselves…” (Barr & Tagg, 1995, p. 15).
John Roueche combined learning and assessment in higher education with his 1997
text, Embracing the Tiger. He says that "The ultimate test of
institutional effectiveness is assessing what and how much our students
are learning. What value do we add to students from their point of
entry until they exit our college?" (Roueche et. al., 1997, p. 63).
Maryellen
Weimer focused more on the student and the role of instructors in her
2002 text, Learner-Centered Teaching. She says that the
learning-centered philosophy “shapes knowledge individually as mediated by
personal experience, …and teaches students how to learn as much as it
teaches what to learn” (Weimer, 2002, p. 18).
Dr. Terry
O'Banion is credited by most with creating the learning-centered
concept. In his 1997 book, A Learning College for the 21st
Century, he says the learning-centered philosophy “places learning
first and …[encourages practitioners to work with students] anyway,
anytime, anywhere” (O’Banion, 1997, p. 22).
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Mike Knecht and Kevin Reid © 2004