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Assessment and Outcomes
Best Practices in Teaching and Learning
The increasing focus on student learning as the central indicator
of institutional excellence challenges many tacit assumptions about
the respective roles of college students and faculty. In student-centered
education, faculty take on less responsibility for being sources of
knowledge, and take on greater responsibility as facilitators of a
broad range of learning experiences. For their part, students are
called on to take on more responsibility for their own learning.
As shown in the following table, the responsibilities of students
and faculty and the relationships between them are quite different
in the two models:
Domain
|
Teacher-centered
|
Learner-centered |
| Knowledge |
Transmitted from instructor |
Constructed by students |
| Student participation |
Passive |
Active |
| Role of professor |
Leader/authority |
Facilitator/partner in learning |
| Role of Assessment |
Few tests, mainly for grading |
Many tests, for ongoing feedback |
| Emphasis |
Learning correct answers |
Developing deeper understanding |
| Assessment method |
Unidimensional testing |
Multidimensional products |
| Academic culture |
Competitive, individualistic |
Collaborative, supportive |
Beginning with Bloom's
taxonomy for educational objectives, and continuing with considerable
research on teaching and learning, over the last thirty years many
detailed lists of "best practices in teaching" have been compiled.
Most lists of important "best practices" include the following:
-
Engage students in active learning experiences
-
Set high, meaningful expectations
-
Provide, receive, and use regular, timely, and specific
feedback
-
Become aware of values, beliefs, preconceptions;
unlearn if necessary
-
Recognize and stretch student styles and developmental
levels
-
Seek and present real-world applications
-
Understand and value criteria and methods for student
assessment
-
Create opportunities for student-faculty interactions
-
Create opportunities for student-student interactions
-
Promote student involvement through engaged time
and quality effort
As shown in the figure below, the best student learning outcomes
follow from a combination of activities: encouraging faculty development
as teachers using the best practices in teaching and learning; engaging
students with high levels of involvement in their studies, with other
students, and with faculty; and implementing regular, thoughtful,
and periodic assessment procedures to provide ongoing feedback: to
students about the progress of their learning, to instructors about
the efficacy of their teaching, and to program faculty about how well
their program is meeting its objectives.
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