Lesson 3: Student-Centred Learning (SCL) Approaches

Today, our class had the mind-boggling experience of learning about student-centred learning in a student-centred learning classroom. We were our own guinea pigs, so to speak. So while we were frantically looking online for information on the various types of ICT-based SCL (problem-based, case-based, inquiry-based, project-based, game-based, and resource-based) and brainstorming in our groups about a SCL lesson plan, we were at the same time supposed to be observing ourselves and the way we learn and interact in a SCL environment.

Content-wise, I learnt a bunch. For one, I learnt that there is quite a bit of overlap between the six SCL approaches. Prof Tan illustrated the relationship between the six approaches as six intersecting circles in a Venn diagram, but it wasn't until our group was trying to figure out what exactly was the difference between problem-based and project-based; project-based and inquiry-based, that we appreciated the truth of that Venn diagram. (Ah! Is that SCL at work? Did discovering it on our own by doing research online and discussing it with my group members make the content "stick in my brain" better?)

I also noticed that the overlap isn't only confined to the six SCL approaches, but that student-centred learning is stretching across practically all my classes. I find myself reading about the value of using authentic sources in my Oral communication class, about problem-based learning in my Educational Psychology class (Dr Tan Oon-Seng's book), about the negative effects of a teacher focused on "testing" rather than "teaching" in an article titled "The Backwash Effect", and many others. This student-centred learning thing is pretty pervasive.

Through today's experience of being a student in a SCL environment, I realised that the hurdle to successful implementation of SCL may not be the theory, planning, or even implementation of SCL approaches in the classroom, but rather the need for mindsets to change. Teachers need to get used to not giving all the information, and students need to get used to not being given all the answers. At some point in the lesson, I wanted Prof Tan to just tell me the answers already!, despite knowing that he wasn't going to do it. If I, a teacher-to-be learning about SCL can feel this way, what more a student who has a content-heavy exam to pass before he can graduate? How do I persuade him to change his mindset that the process is just as important as the end-point?