Lesson Proper for Week 1

LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH

Learner centered teaching is an approach that places the learner at the centre of the learning. This
means that the learner or student is responsible for learning while the tutor/teacher is responsible for
facilitating the learning. This is also known as student-centered learning. This learner-centered approach
is based on constructivist learning theory that put emphasis on learner’s role in constructing meaning
from new information and prior experiences. The students will choose what they will learn, how they
will learn and how they will assess their own learning. Here students take a more active role. In a
nutshell, a learner centered approach is one where the complete Learning experience is focused on the
learners. For example, the courses need to be very user-friendly, so that learners can navigate the
course without any difficulty. They should be able to easily access the content of their choice, and skip
the sections they are not interested in. Likewise, learners should find the courses relevant to their
challenges and learning needs. The courses should include real life examples that learners can relate to.
In this kind of approach, student-centered learning requires the student to be active, responsible
participants in their own learning and with their own pace of learning.

CURRICULUM AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN LEARNER CENTERED APPROACH

The curriculum provides a lot of help and assistance to the learners.

The curriculum gives students a written detail about the types of learning experiences they need to
acquire for completing the expected learning objectives.

The curriculum makes them familiar with the learning objectives. This way it makes the tasks of learning
purposeful and goal oriented. This purposefulness makes them motivated towards learning as they are
aware of the types of behavioral changes expected as learning outcome from the study of a particular
subject or doing a certain activity to complement learning.

A properly developed curriculum is accompanied by the resource materials needed to supplement it.
These resources include suggested experiments, learning activities, projects, assignments, references
etc. These materials are equally important for both teachers and learners.

A curriculum is a properly developed framework of the teaching-learning process. It includes learning

objectives that should be known to the learners. When learners are aware of the learning objectives
they can plan, execute and evaluate them for the realization of the learning outcome of the course
being studied.

Hence a properly developed curriculum can help the learner in their learning process from beginning to
end for the realization of the set learning objectives.

Realization of these learning objectives results in overall growth and development in all the aspects and
dimensions of their personality.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH

•Advantages

 •Improved participation. A learner centered approach addresses all the essential needs of
learners, ensuring learners get a personalized and convenient Learning experience. For example,
if a certain learner group prefers games and exercises, the courses should be made more
interactive. Similarly, if learners are more likely to access the course content on tablets or
mobiles, the courses should be designed to support this need. Due to the minute attention paid
to learner’s needs, learner centered courses ensure greater participation in Learning.
 •Improves retention of knowledge. Given that a learner centered approach places high
emphasis on relevance and engagement, it greatly influences learners’ interest levels.
 •This approach to curriculum gives power to learners.
 •Facilitates personalizes learning.
 •Students see their needs clearly reflected in the classroom, which is very motivating.
 •It creates a direct link between classwork and the learner’s needs.
 •Learners can easily transfer new skills in day to day activities.
 •It encourages learners persistence.
 •Makes learning more fun.
 •Boosts performance at work. A typical learner centered Learning course will have a lot of
scenarios, case studies, role plays, etc. For example, if an organization is training its employees
on quality guidelines or industry best practices, a learner centered course with a lot of engaging
 and interactive content will help learners grasp the content more effectively. This way, learners
are more likely to apply their learning at work, leading to improved on-the-job performance.

•Disadvantages

 •It often relies on the teacher’s ability to create materials appropriate to learner’s expressed
needs.
 •It requires more skill on the part of the teacher as well as their time and resources.
 •It is often difficult for teachers to make an acceptable balance among competing needs and
interests of students.
 •In terms of man, material and resources this approach could be a luxury that learners often can
not afford.
Lesson Proper for Week 2

Metacognition

is considered a critical component of successful learning ‘…themselves through metacognitive strategies

such as adapting , monitoring , self-regulation. If we want students to develop into critical thinking,
lifelong learners, we need them to develop metacognitive skills. Metacognition is vital for helping
students become self-directed learners (both self-managers and selfstarters). It will help them navigate
the complexities of a changing world and it will help them as they engage in creative work. In this blog
post, we explore how to make that happen.

Navigating the Maze

• We live in an era where robotics and artificial intelligence will replace many of our current jobs. Global
connectivity will continue to allow companies to outsource labor to other countries. Our students will
likely change jobs every five to seven years. The corporate ladder is gone and, in its place,, is a complex
maze. They will inhabit a world of constant change. But how do we help students navigate that maze?

We often hear that our current students will work in jobs that don’t exist right now. But here’s another
reality: our current students will be the ones who create those jobs. Not every student will create the
next Google or Pixar or Lyft. Some students will be engineers or artists or accountants. Some will work in
technology, others in traditional corporate spaces and still others in social or civic spaces. Some of them
will work in high-skilled manufacturing. But no matter how diverse their industries will be, our students
will all someday face a common reality. They will need to be self-starters and self-managers.

The Critical Role of Metacognition

People debate about which subjects will prepare kids for the future – whether it’s engineering or coding
or philosophy. But I love way A.J. Juliani puts it, “Our job as teachers is not to ‘prepare’ kids for
something; our job is to help kids learn to prepare themselves for anything.” This is why metacognition
is so important. When students have strong metacognition skills, they are able to anticipate change and
navigate complexity. But that doesn’t always happen. According to a Pascarella and Terenzini study, one
of the most significant challenges college students face is managing their own learning. However, it goes
beyond success in college and career. If we want students to become lifelong learners, they need to
know how to own their learning; which means they need to know how to think about thinking.
How Does Metacognition Work?

• It starts with the ability to assess the task at hand. Here, students have a clear picture of what they
need to accomplish. This part sounds easy. However, this goes beyond simply reading instructions. It
includes the ability to integrate prior knowledge with new knowledge and make connections between
direct instruction and a new tasks. If a task feels too complicated, students can become overwhelmed
and give up. Other times, they might oversimplify the task or get hung up on one specific detail.

How Does Metacognition Work?

• In the second phase, students evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses. This can be tricky if
students have an inaccurate view of their skills. Often, students who are highly skilled will suffer
Imposter Syndrome, where they underestimate their skills because they are painfully aware of what
they don’t know. On the other hand, students with a lower skill level might experience the Dunning
Kruger Effect, where they overestimate their skills.

How Does Metacognition Work?

• Afterward, students plan out their approach. Note that this does not have to be a detailed plan. In
some cases, students might visualize where they need to be and what they need to do to get there.
However, it’s interesting that experts tend to spend more time in planning than novices but are more
effective in implementation, because novices experience more initial mistakes.

How Does Metacognition Work?

• Students then take action and apply the strategies and monitor their progress, which leads to the next
phase, where they reflect on their learning and adjust their approach. Here, they might determine new
strategies that ultimately lead back to a re-assessment of the tasks. Effective problem-solvers are more
likely to adjust their approach by highlighting what’s working and fixing what’s failing while poor
problem-solvers are more likely to stick with an approach that isn’t working.

How Does Metacognition Work?

• This cycle can happen rapidly or over a longer stretch of time. And it doesn’t always follow the
sequence systematically. In some cases, it can almost feel so seamless that it’s invisible. However, even
so, it is vital for learning.

NATURE AND OTHER PRINCIPLES OF METACOGNITIVE FACTORS OF LEARNING.

NATURE OF THE LEARNING PROCESS 

GOALS OF THE LEARNING PROCESS 

CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE 
STRATEGIC THINGKING

NATURE OF THE LEARNING PROCESS 

The learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an intentional process of constructing
meaning from information and experience.

GOALS OF THE LEARNING PROCESS

The successful learner, overtime and with support and instructional guidance, can create meaningful,
coherent representation s of knowledge.

CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE

The successful learner can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful ways.

Individual differences in Metacognition

• Age 5 or 7. 

• They continue to improve throughout school years. 

• Developmental 

• Two questions that kids can ask themselves or that teachers can ask students can help students
become more metacognitive (see Perry, et al., 200) 

• What did you learn about yourself as a reader/writer/learner today? 

• What did you learn that you can do again and again and again? 

• Students, however, vary greatly in their metacognitive abilities - some differences are probably
biological or variations in learning experiences

DISTINCTION BETWEEN COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Cognitive and Metacognitive strategies and skills are closely related in terms of them both involving
cognition and skill but they are conceptually distinct in at least one major way. Weinstein and Meyer
state that a cognitive learning strategy is a plan for orchestrating cognitive resources, such as attention
and long term memory to help teach a learning goal. This indicate that there are several characteristics
of cognitive learning strategies, such as being goal-directed, intentionally, invoked, effortful, and are not
universally applicable, but situation specific.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Metacognitive strategies appear to share most of this characteristic with the exemption of the last one
since they involve more universal application through focus upon planning for implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation. That is to say metacognitive strategies are not so situation specific but
involve generic skills essential for adult, more sophisticated forms of thinking and problem solving.