Talk:Francia Reed's Design Project Portfolio

Instructor comment on your instructional analysis -- Jz833665 14:48, 11 March 2011 (EST)

Hi Francia,

You've laid out some fundamental thoughts for this design project. Here're a few suggestions and issues for you to consider:

1. As I wrote in my email, learner-centered is not the opposite of "knowledge-centered" as defined by Bransford et al. (1999).
2. Add a section on "learner analysis" to define who will benefit from this mini-course and what profiles they have.
3. Find key references: APA (1997)'s learner-centered principles (we've read in this course) and Bransford's chapter are both good references for you. You may particularly search articles/training materials on implementing learner-centered pedagogy in college teaching, to make your focus much more specific and explicit.
4. work out course-level learning objectives following suggestions from Gagne (week 8 reading)

I hope your will have a productive journey in this project.

Re: Instructor comment on your instructional analysis -- Francia Reed 17:05, 10 April 2011 (EDT)

Dr. Zhang

Does the actual mini course go on the portfolio page or am I supposed to put it somewhere else? I am not sure how to make the mini-course separate from the planning area. Thank you, Francia

Instructor comments on your draft units -- Jz833665 16:44, 3 May 2011 (EDT)

Francia- Your mini-course (draft unit 1) looks very interesting and helpful. I like the analogy you made between patient-centered practice and learner-centered teaching to help your audience understand this concept.

A few suggestions:

• -Navigation: Yes, you need to set up a new page as the front page of your mini-course so the end user will have a clean view. The portfolio page is for yourself. At the end of each unit page, you also need to add hyperlinks to your homepage and the next unit.
• - Starting activity in unit 1: I think it would help to have the participants reflect on their current beliefs and strategies of teaching, and then in the end of your mini-course, have them revisit their beliefs for transformative change.
• - Engaging the learner and facilitating understanding: Since understanding what learner-centeredness means is so central to your focus, you may put more efforts in getting this notion accessible and understandable. The following text seems too brief to serve this purpose. You may additionally think about using a table to make clear the contrast between learner-centered and teacher-centered models (search online, there are many) and offering concrete examples of learner-centered classrooms.

'Learner-Centered education means creating an authentic learning environment where student are guided in setting realistic goals, take responsibility for their learning as they build new knowledge connected to old (APA, 1997). This type of learning requires faculty to set clear course objectives and provide students with feedback on their own learning strategies in their attempts to meet those objectives. Faculty maintain respect for the history and diverse backgrounds each learner brings to the classroom. Faculty promote a learning environment where questions are not only tolerated, but encouraged. Learner-centered education needs a fertile, caring, positive environment if learners are to thrive and not just survive the educational experience."