On Wednesday, March 4, Dr. Ahmed Bendania, Assistant Professor of Psychology, gave a talk on “Student-centered Learning Tenets and Processes: Feedback from a Research Project”.
Firstly, this talk discussed student-centered learning and teaching with the emphasis on pro-active rather than reactive learning. It covered the issues of deep learning and understanding, shared responsibility and accountability of both teacher and student. Secondly, Dr. Bendania explained the difference between teacher-centered learning, whereby the instructor “transmits knowledge”; student-centered learning which describes what students need to do in order to achieve learning (proactive rather than reactive learning) and shared responsibility and accountability between teacher and student. Dr. Bendania stressed that interdependence between teacher and students creates a relationship based on mutual respect.
Finally, this talk looked at surveys and questionnaires that were conducted with KFUPM students and instructors. Questions included: What are teaching practices adopted by KFUPM instructors? Do these practices reflect any types of students-centered learning? Do students perceive their instructors' teaching practices as encouraging student-centered learning? Dr. Bendania discussed the quantitative and qualitative results from these surveys which show that KFUPM faculty members use many student-centered teaching approaches and methods in their classes.
This presentation, which was relevant to both faculty and students who attended, prompted an interesting question and answer session.
