ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING METHODS AMONG PROFESSORS AND INSTRUCTORS AT A CANADIAN UNIVERSITY

Introduction

The goal of higher education is to create independent, autonomous learners who assume responsibility for their own learning. Autonomous learning seldom materializes in teacher-centered environments, which is why faculty development programs are emphasizing learner-centered teaching methods to promote student engagement in deep learning rather than surface learning. A learner- centered teaching environment, emphasizes collaborating with students on course content, shifting responsibility for learning to the student, and using a more interactive instructional style. The aim of our study is to examine the attitudes that professors and instructors have towards specific elements of learner-centered teaching methods.

Methods

A web-link to a self-report questionnaire was emailed to professors and instructors from the faculties of Architecture, Arts, Engineering, Management, and Science at the University of Manitoba, Canada during the fall of 2009. The teaching attitudes inventory was used to rate the participants responses on a scale of 1-5. The frequency distributions of the participants’ responses were then converted into percentages.

Results

We received 114 responses with Arts the largest faculty at 41%. The participants averaged 20 years of teaching experience and 51% were male. A large majority of the participants thought group discussions were a waste of time, (82%) and only (23%) thought that students should become more involved in course planning and evaluation. Participants thought there is too much experimentation in teaching (65%) and that a major problem is a lack of well-defined structure (49%). Only (43%) thought that knowledge and skills can be increased through more teaching workshops.

Discussion

Our findings suggest that instructors and professors favor teacher-centered methods for course delivery in their instructional settings. Faculty development programs should provide training on constructivist theories of learning and learner-centered teaching approaches to facilitate more student involvement. Incremental systematic changes through redesigning of curricula, supplemented with organizational support and skill development training, are necessary first steps. Further research should explore some of the barriers perceived by students, faculty, and administration towards the implementation of learner-centered instructional environments.