1. Are Your Educational Programs Learning-Centered? Can You Measure This?
Phyllis Blumberg, Ph.D.
University of the Sciences
Myths and Movements Reimagining Higher Education Assessment
Drexel University

2. How familiar are you with Learning-centered teaching?
I have heard of the phrase but I cannot define it
Either I have taught using it or have read about it
I have assessed its implementation

3. Learning-centered teaching is
recommended as a best practice
supported by about 100 years of research:
psychology of learning
cognitive neuro-sciences
movement in higher education
almost 20 years old

4. Learning-centered teaching involves
actively engages students in their learning
fostering students to take responsibility for learning
providing frequent formative assessments

5. Many institutions claim they are learning-centered
Is this a myth or a reality?
good recruitment device
actually practiced
Educators need to support claims with data
current need for accountability
use for accreditation
What data have you collected?
surveys?
observations?

6. What we will accomplish
Describe a method for evaluating the use of learning-centered practices to be used by
departments or colleges to assess educational programs
individual faculty for their own teaching portfolios
Educators who are developing self-study reports for accreditation

8. Blumberg further defined dimensions into specific components
function of content = 4
role of instructor =6
responsibility for learning = 6
assessment = 7
balance of power = 6

9. Created rubrics for each component
4 levels describe different instructor behaviors
easy-to use method
determine the learning-centered status of courses

10. Format for all rubrics 1. Employs instructor-centered approaches
Transitioning to learning-centered approaches
4. Employs learning-centered approaches
2. Lower level of transitioning
3. Higher level of transitioning
Describes instructor- centered behaviors
Describes transitional instructor behaviors
Describes learning-centered behaviors

11. Responsibility for learning: teach 5 information literacy skills
1. Employs instructor-centered approaches
Transitioning to learning-centered approaches
4. Employs learning-centered approaches
2. Lower level of transitioning
3. Higher level of transitioning
Does not help students acquire any information literacy skills
Helps students acquire 2/5 information literacy skills
Helps students acquire 4/5 information literacy skills
Facilitates students to become proficient with all 5 information literacy skills

12. How would you rate these instructors on acquires information literacy?
1. Syllabus states: Students write a review of the primary literature paper. Students must use APA citation system appropriately. Papers that are plagiarized will receive a 0 on the assignment. No further explanation given 2. Instructor shows how to frame good literature research question, what is plagiarism, paraphrasing, and proper citation system; students practice each skill

13. Data collection Obtain Institutional Review Board approval. Essential
Faculty answers cannot be anonymous

14. Obtaining evidence of implementation
Where can you find solid evidence of the implementation of learning-centered teaching?

16. Select relevant components
Survey faculty
Use semi-structured question format
Create interview
Should be consistent with values, policies
Strategic planning documents
Select relevant components

17. Conduct individual interviews
Interview can inform, educate about learning-centered practices,
especially for those faculty who do not attend faculty development events
Ask faculty to provide course artifacts as supporting evidence

18. True or False?
Should faculty assess themselves on the extent of their implementation of learning-centered teaching?

19. policy practice statement
Triangulate data from several sources to rate course on components using rubrics
policy
practice
statement

20. Data analysis Consider multiple data sources
Score data on each component
Create spreadsheet summarizing results

21. Combine individual rubric scores into summary spread sheet
Component 1
Component 2
Component 3
Component 4
Faculty 1 2 4 3
Faculty 2
Faculty 3 1
Faculty 4

22. Reporting the data in an easy to interpret way
Level 4
Level 3
Learning- centered
Level 2
Level 1
Instructor- centered

23. Any questions? ? About what is learning-centered teaching?
How I defined components?
Use of rubrics?
How to score using rubrics?
Data collection?
Data analysis?

24. Assessment cycle goals program collect data report out
use data to plan

25. Assessment cycle as applied to learning-centered teaching (lct)
goal: teach using lct
educate
58 faculty
discuss findings
use data

26. Steps of assessment cycle
goal: teach using lct
educate
58 faculty
discuss findings
use data

27. Steps of assessment cycle
goal: teach using lct
educate
58 faculty
discuss findings
use data

28. 12 year effort by university’s Teaching and Learning Center
Develop and implement educational intervention efforts to promote learning-centered teaching
12 year effort by university’s Teaching and Learning Center
workshops
1:1 consultations
New faculty orientation
Paid registration to attend teaching conferences
Awarded prizes for innovative teaching
Collaborated on scholarship of teaching and learning

29. Steps of assessment cycle
goal: teach using lct
educate
58 faculty
discuss findings
use data

30. Results
62% of the components were used in a learning-centered way by majority of the faculty
Range of individual average scores from
Average score was 2.51 (in transition)
Median and modal scores = 3 (higher level of transition)

31. Results .
3 components used in learning centered ways by about 90% of the faculty
3 components were used by less than 30% of the faculty
2 components were not understood by faculty who were interviewed

32. Steps of assessment cycle
goal: teach using lct
educate
58 faculty
discuss findings
use data

33. Insights from discussion of results
data collection method itself was an effective faculty development vehicle
need to be very explicit in explaining teaching methods and why use them
some departments were doing effective, in-services in department meetings on teaching

34. Steps of assessment cycle
goal: teach using lct
educate
58 faculty
discuss findings
use data

35. My faculty development efforts
Using data
My faculty development efforts
Training on specific components
Panel discussion
Continue new faculty orientation focus
Explain difficult concepts

36. Questions about how I used the assessment cycle?
goal: teach using lct
educate
58 faculty
discuss findings
use data

37. For more information
Rubrics are in Blumberg (2009) Developing Learner-Centered Teaching. Jossey-Bass
Directions on how to score data using rubrics are available from me

38. How can you use this framework to measure implementation of learning-centered teaching?
One time measure
Look at differences over time
Compare different programs