Abstract:

20 years ago the Bologna Declaration was signed. Unfortunately the “Shift from Teaching to Learning” still did not reach most of the study programs in engineering. This is shown in study structures by the strong believe in the power of the traditional lecture-and-lab style. The professor typically still plays the role of the mediator between the “cloud of knowledge and wisdom” on one side and the students on the other side. Clearly this time is over since the digitalization of life has also reached the education. Nowadays students don’t ask the professor when they don’t understand the topic - instead they look YouTube videos!

This paper starts with a short ride through the history of teaching. The goal is:
1) to get better understanding on the development of the relationship of teacher and student
2) to search for early models of teacher-student-partnership at eye level
3) to figure out important steps in pedagogics towards a learner-centered approach

The second part of the paper discusses the different teaching methods which have been worked out during the last 100 years. This models are compared to the student-centered learning approach. In this paper we consider the following methods:
1) Behaviorism - the Black-Box-Model
2) Cognitivism - the brain considered as a computer
3) Constructivism - building my own understanding
4) Connectivism - connecting nodes and resources

The “SUSAN”-concept is described in the third part of the paper. This learning concept is based on two main topics:

Learning should be:
1) SUStainable
2) ANimating

Learning approaches are first discussed on the topics of learning retention rates. Second the role of the emotions in the learning process is considered. Third the basic practical learning elements used in the SUSAN-concept are presented:
1) Theory and practice closely connected
2) Real life experience as the starting point
3) Learning under self-control
4) Developing teamwork skills
5) Do your own project

The paper finally shortly presents as an example for the SUSAN-concept a practical learning environment for basic learning in electrical/electronic engineering. This environment was designed for a Multimodal and EXperiment based LEarning (therefore called MEXLE) and serves the learner not only at the classes but also at home. The MEXLE-system has a complete modular design and is open for own development projects of the students. The MEXLE-system is available under an Open-Source licence. A second paper for this conference will discuss the structure and concepts of the MEXLE-system in a more deep approach.

Keywords:

Student-centered learning, context and problem-based learning, project learning, new learning/teaching models, learning and teaching methodologies.