Student Centered Learning in Classrooms : A Strategy for Increasing Student Motivation and Achievement

In facing challenges such as rapid globalization, tremendous impacts of information technology, international transformation towards knowledge-driven economy, strong demands for sustainable societal developments, and international competitions in the new century, numerous educational reforms and changes have been initiated in the different parts of the world. Policy-makers and educators in most countries have to think how to reform their education and prepare next generations for meeting challenges of the future (Cheng, 2003a, b; Hirsch & Weber, 1999; Kogan & Hanney, 2000; Mingle, 2000). Student-centered learning is an approach to learning in which learners choose not only what to study but also how and why. At the heart of the learning environment are learner responsibility and activity, in contrast to the emphasis on instructor control and coverage of academic content found in conventional, didactic teaching. Student-centred learning, as the term suggests, is a method of learning or teaching that puts the learner at the centre (cf. Mac Hemer et al, 2007, p.9; Boyer, 1990). With the application of an SCL approach in higher education, there is necessarily a shift in focus from academic teaching staff to the learner. This approach has many implications for the design and flexibility of curriculum, course content, and interactivity of the learning process. The fact that conventional teaching predominantly places its focus on the design, organization and follow-through of the perspective of the academic teacher has made it difficult to determine what students see as constituting SCL, because often they have never been asked. This paper elaborates why and how Student-centered learning is needed to re-conceptualize the practices of action learning to enhance multiple thinking and creativity in learning