Intern
Adult Education Academy

Group 3

Comparative Group 3: Learning teaching in higher and adult education

Learner-centred, higher education, participative approach

The CGW is focused on learner-centred teaching, putting the learner at the center of the process as an active participant in knowledge construction. This approach expects learners and teachers to construct meaningful knowledge while working on authentic problems (Elen, Clarebout, Léonard, & Lowyck, 2007). The framework of Weimer (2013) is based on five key issues:

  •  The role of teacher in classroom and outside
  •  The balance of power in teaching and learning
  •  The function of the content and how to cover it
  •  The responsibility of learning
  •  The purpose of the feedback and evaluation

This approach is focused on learning and how adults learn – what the learners are doing is the central concern of teachers. Teaching that promotes learning is a kind of change of perspective for teachers and learners. The aim is how to manage the learning process, which is not focus on telling learners what they should do, but what they should know.

This approach changes the balance of power between teachers and learners. Normally teachers decide what learners have to know and they exert and enormous control on over the learning process.

The challenges of this approach is to find those strategies that give learners control and responsibility. 


Comparative research question

1. What kind of national and institutional interventions are addressed to improve teaching and learning in your university?

2. What kind of students’centred methods can you relieve through the courses syllabus analysis of your home university?

3. What learner centered teaching practices are implemented in the classes? 


Context of comparison

The comparison will include:

  •  Comparison of national and institutional interventions to improve teaching and learning
  •  Impact of existing  institutional interventions  on teaching and learning.
  •  Impact on teaching practices 

Role of Practitioners

  •  Practices in Teaching and Learning Adults
  •  Practices in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 

Categories of comparison  

selection for the transnational essay is based on participants research interests)

  •  Institutional policies for supporting students’ participation
  •  Provisions (teaching methods, participation, syllabus, materials, programmes) of participatory adult learning approach

References

Baeten, M., Struyven, K., & Dochy, F. (2013). Student-centred teaching methods: Can they optimise students’ approaches to learning in professional higher education? Studies in Educational Evaluation, 39, 14–22.

Elen, J., Clarebout, G., Leonard, R., & Lowyck, J. (2007). Student-centred and teacher-centred learning environments: What students think. Teaching in higher education, 12(1), 105-117.

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner centered teaching. Five key changes to practice. San Francisco: Joessey- Bass   

Co-Moderation: Dr. Concetta Tino, University of Padova, Italy

Her main research interests are: teachers professional development; Work-Related Learning as programme on which education and workplace build their partnership; the development of soft skills and professional competences for students and teachers within Work-Related Learning experiences.

 

 

 

Co-moderation: Dr. Bolanle Clara Simeon-Fayomi , Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Dr. Simeon-Fayomi Bolanle Clara teaches and researches into the areas of Innovative Teaching Methods, Soft skills & Employability/Entrepreneurship Education, Continuing Education & Training, and recently into Displaced /Refugees persons Education and Military Education. She is a tenured prima facie qualified Associate Professor of 2016 in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. A scholar of the First Data Western Union of AAU/IAA, USA and Fellow of the Carnegie Corporation of New York/ Linkages, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, she was awarded the prestigious Bavarian Government Fellowship of the Siebold-Collegium-Institute for Advanced Studies (SCIAS) of the University of Wurzburg and serves as visiting professor to several Universities. She is presently a fourth year tenured executive member of the Nigerian National Council for Adult Education (NNCAE).