Learner-centered e-learning: an exploration of learner-centered practices in online and traditional instruction in higher education

Abstract

This study examined the perceptions of students and instructors in regard to learner-centered pedagogy and web-based learning at a regional public university in a southern state. The study focused on recommendations for online learning, studies of learner-centered pedagogy, and online learning practices such as collaboration, problem-based learning, reflection, asynchronous communication, and authentic learning and assessment. The research examined the students’ perceptions of learner-centered practices in online and traditional courses of the same instructors throughout one semester. The students’ perceptions were compared with the instructors’ perceptions of learner-centered practices in the courses. The qualitative investigation examined each instructor’s pedagogical beliefs about learner-centered instruction in traditional and online courses and his or her attitudes toward the training in which he or she participated. The degree to which the students perceived the courses as learner-centered revealed a positive relationship between the levels of learner-centered practices and the students’ motivation and satisfaction with the courses. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the students’ perceptions of learner-centered practices between the online and the traditional courses. The students felt that instructors were as learner-centered in the online courses as they were in the traditional courses. The qualitative results, combined with the quantitative results revealed that instructors who used more of the strategies and practices recommended in the training were more highly learner-centered. The study resulted in a new training model for learner-centered professional development in online instruction in this university and in others and includes reflective practices for individual instructors.