Week 8 - Learner Centered Instruction - Not just for Distance Learning

 Over the past few years, all students in the US and throughout most of the world have had experience learning in a virtual environment they were unfamiliar with previously.  Though this was new to most K12 students, this wasn't a new concept, and distance learning has been around for years, first with mail order options for learners, and now with Zoom and other virtual environments.  

In 1995, Wagner and McCombs wrote a paper, "Learner Centered Psychological Principles in Practice: Designs for Distance Education," encouraging ALL instructors to use the tools that many distance learning instructors used to increase student engagement in their courses.  They noted that it was common belief that learner-centered instruction was necessary for distance education and that the tools and best practices related to it were used primarily in that arena.  

Many of the learning principles noted in this article stood the test of time and become essential during the virtual instruction that took place during the pandemic - there are three specific principles that I want to highlight here as especially important from my perspective, as well as difficult to incorporate well into virtual learning environments. 

Motivational influences on learning - In a traditional setting, teachers can use many types of queues to recognize what a student may need to be motivated.  Through a virtual environment, this is challenging because the student becomes a 2D being - body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice may not be observable to an instructor as easily as in a classroom. 

Social and Cultural Diversity - Virtual learning environments didn't lend themselves to sharing as much as in person learning experiences as most of the time was relegated to instruction rather than exploration or teamwork activities.  Students were also not exposed to other students' non-classroom habits such as playground or passing period behavior, lunchtime behavior (including diversity in foods and habits), and simple things like differences in clothing or important items brought to school.  This just simply took a back burner during the emergency virtual learning of the pandemic. 

Social Acceptance and Self Esteem - For many of the same reasons as above, building students social skills and self esteem took a back seat to content and instruction as well as assessment.  It will likely be years before we know the impact of losing the 2 years of this type of growth in a classroom.  

While Wagner and McCombs recognize that the most successful distance learners will be highly motivated and require lower amounts of individualized attention, it brings the students forced into this environment into the forefront.  Distance learning will take a larger role than ever as more students (and instructors) have become familiar and comfortable with the technology.  Instructors need to keep these and other learning principles in mind when preparing activities.