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| Facilitating Learning: |
The Learning Paradigm |
|
While learning has many ends, teaching has only one: to
enable or cause learning.1 |
The necessity for a shift from the traditional instruction paradigm to a learning paradigm is
patently obvious. At the risk of exaggeration, it might be said that the former is the “pedagogy
of the oppressed2” while the latter allows “freedom to learn”3. Many of the ideas about the shift
are by now familiar4. However, a reminder of the key differences may still be useful.
Instruction vs. Learning Paradigms |
| Instruction Paradigm |
Learning Paradigm |
| Mission |
| Transfer knowledge |
Empower learners to discover and construct knowledge
|
| Provide efficient delivery of instruction |
Facilitate/cause effective learning
|
| Education as quantitative knowledge acquisition |
Education as qualitative
transformation |
|
| Values |
| One-size-fits-all |
Respect for individual needs/strengths
|
| Competition |
Cooperation |
| Reactive |
Proactive |
| Institution/discipline-centred;
isolationist |
Responsive to
stakeholders/‘clients’; ‘strategic alliances’ |
|
| Learning
Theory |
| Body of knowledge exists for
transfer/storage |
Knowledge is individually constructed
and dynamic |
| Culture of unquestioning acceptance of
received wisdom |
Culture of inquiry and evidence-based
learning |
| Teacher responsibility |
Learner responsibility |
| Extrinsic motivation |
Intrinsic motivation |
| Learning is linear and sequentially
‘chunkable’ |
Learning is non-linear and
‘hyperlinked’ |
|
| Teaching/learning
assumptions |
| Instructor-led/dependent/micro-managed |
Learner-led |
| Didactic, monologic |
Active/interactive, dialogic |
| Curriculum-driven |
Geared to learner’s
experience/needs; contextual |
| Coverage dominated |
Mastery, distributed cognition |
| Classroom-bound; synchronous |
Anywhere, anytime learning |
| Single-loop learning |
Continuous learning loop |
| Certification is key |
Competency is yardstick |
| Measurement in terms of time on task
|
Learner-paced; achievement-based
measurement |
| Individualistic and competitive learning
|
Cooperative, collaborative learning
|
| Teacher as expert |
Teacher as guide/facilitator |
| Education is the responsibility of
teachers |
Whole organisation involvement in
optimising learning environment |
|
| Performance
indicators |
| Inputs/outputs; efficiency
|
Learning quality/outcomes; effectiveness
|
| Enrolment |
Quality of education |
| Curriculum development/expansion |
Development of teaching/learning
environment |
| Quality of entering students |
Quality of graduates |
|
Making learning the focus of the education enterprise naturally leads to a learner-centred
approach, and to such attendant issues as learner profile, motivation, learning styles and
approaches, instructional design and methodology, and learning outcomes.
- K. Patricia Cross. (1988). ‘In Search of Zippers’. AAHE Bulletin. Vol. 40, No. 10, p. 3.
- Paulo Freire. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.
- Carl R. Rogers. (1969). Freedom to Learn. Columbus, OH: Charles Merrill Publishing Company.
- Refer, for instance, to John Barr & Robert Tagg. (November/December 1995). ‘From Teaching to Learning: A New Paradigm for
Undergraduate Education’. Change. Vol. 27, No. 6, pp. 13–25.
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