A Letter from President Manuel A. Esteban Faculty Reflection In Focus: Student-Centered Learning Opportunities for Giving Borderlines Campus Collage		“The reason we focus on student-centered learning is not because it is the latest fad. It is because we have new empirical data about what helps students to learn content, to retain it, and to be able to apply it, not just now but years later. Specifically, we know that active and collaborative styles of teaching enhance student learning.” –from Provost Scott G. McNall’s memo to the Task Force on Student-Centered Learning, February 1997 What does it mean to be “student- centered”? Isn’t all teaching “student-centered”? Does it mean using only group work and abandoning the traditional lecture style of teaching? For over a year, CSU, Chico, like many universities across the country, has been working on defining the concept of student-centered learning as part of fulfilling the first priority of the University’s Strategic Plan for the Future: “To create and enhance innovative, high-quality, and student-centered learning environments.” Elizabeth Renfro, coordinator of the Literacy and Learning Program at Chico State, explained that there are various definitions for student-centered learning, but “recurrent components include active student involvement, use of a variety of teaching styles, consideration for the range of learning modes students may have, and emphasis on all members of the class sharing the process of teaching, applying, and even creating knowledge.” Renfro emphasized that the variety of teaching styles can include the lecture as well as collaborative learning strategies. Four teachers from different academic disciplines volunteered to share an assignment that reflects one way each applies “student-centered learning” in his or her courses.   “Student-centered learning is for me simply a teaching goal. I recognize that all learning must necessarily be learner-centered or it does not occur. So, my goal is benefited by designing or engineering experiences that enhance the likelihood of a student’s personal engagement with the material to be learned. Personal engagement generates interest, arousal, positive affect, and commitment, all of which benefit the learning process.” –Joyce Norman, Psychology, Outstanding Teacher, 1982–83 THE “BOOK OF QUESTIONS” LECTURES PROBLEM: Students take notes in class to the exclusion of thinking about what is being said. Notes become a compulsive security blanket for many; these persons tend to memorize notes and rarely deeply process the content of the lectures. INSTRUCTIONS: I tell students they must not take notes for the two lectures of the week. They are told they will receive a detailed lecture written as an essay at the end of the second session. I follow through and provide this lecture in written format. I ask students to listen and think critically about the information being presented and to keep in their notebooks only questions which occur to them as they listen to the lecture. They are told they are writing a “Book of Questions” and that it will be turned in after the second lecture in exchange for the lecture in written format. After the second class period, I ask students to turn in their “Book of Questions.” These “books” are graded as bonus points (1–5) for an impending exam. I select the ten best (most insightful) questions and spend a third lecture answering those questions. This then becomes material that might appear on the exam.   “I give students in my United States History course a weekly group quiz on their reading.” –Dale Steiner, History, Outstanding Academic Adviser, 1996–97 GROUP QUIZZES The quizzes are taken in small groups, and students are instructed to discuss the questions and possible answers within their groups. Each student turns in his or her own answer sheet; these answers may be the same as other group-mates’, but that is not required. The whole idea here is that the quiz is not an instrument for sorting out students (separating wheat from chaff), nor is it even intended primarily to goad students into doing their reading. Instead, it’s a way of getting them to have productive, focused small-group discussions.   “One of the goals of the Current Issues in Public Education course is to assist students in becoming self-learners, challenged by the importance of discovery. The course portfolio encourages discovery by inviting students to assume responsibility for their own learning, which includes helping to structure their own course goals, reflecting upon their achievement, and, along with the instructor, evaluating their academic success.” –Devon Metzger, Education, Master Teacher, 1997–99 COURSE PORTFOLIO The portfolio reflects students’ growth and learning in the course. A portfolio is both a product and a process, an edited collection of materials that provides a framework for demonstrating knowledge, understanding, experiences, and processes for learning. For the final exam, students select what to include and exclude, and determine what to revise or edit to best reflect their learning in the seminar. The portfolio can include selected position papers, reflective journal entries based on seminar experience, additional course assignments, and other work students feel best represents their growth and learning in the course. They present the portfolio to the class at the final meeting.   “An assignment that I really like involves observing a ‘real’ setting and applying course concepts to it.” –Lauren Wright, Marketing, Master Teacher, 1996–97 SERVICE BLUEPRINTS For this assignment, students work in teams of six. The teams then choose a coffeehouse (like Starbucks or Café Paulo) to visit as a group. Their task is to develop a service blueprint (which is a verbal and visual depiction) of their coffee house. They then present their blueprints in class, and the class votes on the best one. The class critiques the various blueprints, which is a really interesting way to compare how the different businesses are designed even though they all offer basically the same core products. This leads to a discussion of why the businesses made those design choices and what customers they were trying to appeal to. It is also a good chance for me to point out that, as with many “tools,” there is no absolutely “right” way to blueprint as long as certain parameters are met. They just must have a rationale for how they chose to use the tool to illustrate their coffeehouse setting. Students like this assignment because they get to work with others in a casual setting; they can choose the place and the way they implement the blueprinting tool; they get to see how the abstract concepts from our services marketing texts can be applied; and the presentations are interesting. I like it also because I can demonstrate to them that I truly appreciate creativity and that there are no absolute “right” answers–just well-justified ones!   Each of these assignments involves students in active learning. Norman’s Book of Questions involves students in constructing an exam. Steiner’s Group Quiz allows students to share their understanding and knowledge with each other. Metzger’s Portfolio encourages students to assess their progress and analyze their processes of learning. And Wright’s Service Blueprint Project uses collaborative learning to help students make connections between their classroom work and the business world. Studies of effective teaching indicate that different approaches to teaching are appropriate in different settings with different students, and that the most effective learning environments offer students a variety of opportunities for learning. These four assignments illustrate some of the ways Chico State is providing those opportunities. Casey Huff, Publications Office (See article on General Studies Thematic, for another example of student-centered learning.)
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