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What is learner-centered education?
A strategy of education that places improvement of student learning at the center of decision-making processes and policies at all levels of the institution.
It is characterized by the use of clear, measurable goals and student outcomes, and the direct involvement of learners in activities that produce deeper understanding of the content through the development of skills that are readily transferable to life and work.
An additional central goal is to prepare self-directed learners who can continue learning beyond formal education.
LCE begins with understanding the educational contexts from which a student comes. It continues with the instructor evaluating the student’s progress towards achieving learning objectives. By helping the student acquire the basic skills to learn, it ultimately provides a basis for learning throughout life.
LCE places the responsibility for learning on the student, while the instructor assumes the responsibility for facilitating the student’s education.
This approach strives to be individualistic, flexible, competency-based, varied in methodology and not always constrained by time and place. (Reference LCE Team definition from Proposal and AFC definition)
Why is the Arizona Board of Regents implementing LCE?
The idea of learner-centeredness has been gaining momentum in higher education for some time (refer to History, Literature, and Resources Section). It originates in the efforts of university faculty nationwide to adapt educational practice to changing social conditions.
The Board has studied this broad trend in higher education, made public endorsements of it, and attempted to identify ways to support the universities' efforts to shift toward more learner-centered practice.
The Board has continuing interest in LCE not only because the idea itself is captivating, but also, more practically, because the spread of LCE raises various policy and resource issues that must be addressed at the Board level. In other words, how best to teach is a question for faculty, but how to support that is a problem for the Board.
To create environments that enhance learning, it is necessary to analyze the multiple ways in which learning occurs and different ways in which different people learn, emphasize essential faculty-student interactions, integrate new technologies fully into the student learning process, and enhance student learning through peer interaction.
LCE allows for a discussion of the structure of the organization and use of resources for a more specialized approach to outcome-based learning.
Ultimately LCE is expected to provide a more efficient and flexible college education that promotes deeper, more lasting and more transferable learning.
The 1998/99 workplan of the Board included eight primary focus areas. Two of these were the Transformation of Higher Education and Learner-Centered Changes. The Board wanted to address the demand for accountability and focus on the learning process and outcomes to meet the needs of students in preparation for the Arizona workforce. After many discussions, LCE emerged as a framework for both focus areas. With the rapid changes in business and technology, the Board was interested in an outcomes-based approach to ensure student success in the New Economy. (Board agenda items: August 1998 and April 1999)
What are the outcomes that ABOR would like to accomplish through LCE?
The Board anticipates that the universities will become more effective in meeting their traditional missions and additionally responsive to the needs of the New Economy and challenges for the 21st Century through LCE.
This will be demonstrated through a systematic and thorough approach to LCE in educational processes and support services. It will allow the universities to embrace diversity through recognition of different styles of learning and different needs for individual students.
LCE will encourage the expansion of strategic partnerships between corporate and higher education communities. (Proposal from LCE Team)
3/27/02
Return to Learner-Centered Education FAQ page
rev. 8/2002
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