Learner-centered Curriculum Research Articles

A modular, flexible training strategy to achieve competence in diagnostic and interventional musculoskeletal ultrasound in patients with hip osteoarthritis

This study sought to establish a model of training and an assessment of competency in musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) diagnosis of hip synovitis and/or effusion and in MSUS-guided injection of the hip. The 'trainee' (no previous experience in MSUS) was trained by an 'expert' [a rheumatologist who is a trainer on the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) MSUS course] using a modular approach focused on hip ultrasound only. This consisted of (i) a 1.5 h initial tutorial and practical demonstration and (ii) indirectly supervised non-continuous scanning of 40 hips over 5 h. Competency was assessed in three ways: (i) ability to obtain standard EULAR reference MSUS images of the hip of sufficient image quality, (ii) accuracy in diagnosis of synovitis or hip effusion by measurement of the anterior femur-capsule distance, and (iii) accuracy in ultrasound-guided hip aspiration and injection. After a period of scanning of 75 min (10 hips), the images obtained by the trainee were consistently graded as acceptable for routine clinical use. Next, blinded triplicate measurements of the anterior femur-capsule distance performed by the trainee and expert showed agreement regarding diagnosis of hip effusion (>7 mm thickness) in 16/17 cases of hip arthritis (kappa 0.876). The trainee performed 40 MSUS-guided hip injections (seven directly supervised followed by 33 indirectly supervised). After 10 consecutive MSUS-guided hip injections, the novice achieved a subsequent accuracy rate of 25/26 (96%) confirmed by radiographic localization of radiopaque contrast. Using a modular approach, a learner-centred curriculum and a self-directed learning strategy with a minimum of direct supervision, a trainee achieved competence in MSUS diagnosis of hip effusion/synovitis and in MSUS-guided hip aspiration/injection.

Contemplating Whitehead’s Freedom and Discipline

This paper extends the previous application of Alfred Whitehead's educational ideas to the domain of enterprise education. In doing so, a unique approach to enterprise education is illustrated that links students to their reality whilst also connecting the curriculum to contemporary entrepreneurship theory. The paper reports upon past cycles of reflective practice related to the developing hic et nunc teaching and learning framework. Two specific findings of note have emerged. First, that students’ learning outcomes are enhanced through the oscillating influence of freedom and discipline. However, in the absence of either factor, suboptimal outcomes are seen to occur. That is, an imbalance between freedom and discipline has resulted in sub-optimal outcomes from either a lack of student interest or an inability to adequately apply acquired knowledge. Where gains have been made, the most obvious process has been through consultation with students. Second, that the students also play an important role in shaping the nature of the learning environments within which they interact. Both findings are of significant importance to all academics charged with the responsibility of developing enterprise education curriculum. The main implication of the paper is that in the absence of sound pedagogical practises, it is possible that enterprise programs may develop a tendency to reinforce past practises. The processes of constructive alignment and criterion-based assessment are argued to offer avenues through which students can influence the educational process. They also provide the educator with a reflective pathway through which continual improvements are constantly possible. This paper provides other academics with a window through which to view the ongoing development of a process that has been recognised nationally for teaching excellence and influenced many fine young entrepreneurs. The paper also draws attention to a set of core educational philosophies that have transferable value to any academic setting. It is noted that the task of developing a learner-centred curriculum for enterprise education has been an entrepreneurial endeavour in itself. Many mistakes have been made and many memorable achievements have been celebrated.

The music curriculum as ‘received’ by children: Evidence from Cyprus primary schools

This article reports on research investigating the ‘received’ music curriculum as experienced by children and how this corresponds with the expectations of the official music curriculum. The research was conducted in Cyprus and the sample consisted of 1196 children in their final year in primary school. Results verify a huge gap between curriculum theory and implementation, revealing that knowledge accumulated during the six years of primary education is far distant from the over-optimistic intentions of the official music curriculum. Additionally, music was found to be one of children's least favourite school subjects, suggesting the need for a more learner-centred and process-orientated music curriculum.

The learner as needs analyst: The use of participatory appraisal in the EAP reading classroom

Needs analysts have understood how needs change during a course [e.g. Richterich, R., & Chancerel, J. (1978). Identifying the needs of adults learning a foreign language. Oxford: Pergamon]. They have also considered how learning needs should influence the way course content is delivered [Robinson, P. (1991). ESP today: a practitioners’ guide. Hemel Hemstead: Prentice Hall; Widdowson, H. (1984). Educational and pedagogical factors in syllabus design. In ELT documents: Vol. 118. General english syllabus design (pp. 23–28). Oxford: Pergamon Press; Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: a learning centred approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; West, R. (1994). Needs analysis in language teaching. Language Teaching, 27, 1–19; Tudor, I. (1996). Learner centredness as language education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press], examining how to integrate this iterative concept of needs into a course structure [Nunan, D. (1988). The learner-centred curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Brindley, G. (1989). The role of needs analysis in adult ESL programme design. In R. K. Johnson (Ed.), The second language curriculum (pp. 63–78) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press]. However, such goals are neglected when ESP practitioners base their course design on a Target Situation Analysis. In response, this paper derives a set of qualitative techniques of needs analysis grouped as Participatory Appraisal (PA) from an aid project approach known as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), assessing how these helped evolve course structures that both responded to changing needs, and began to advance learner independence in the EAP reading classroom.

Using Curriculum Design Principles to Improve Health Education for Adolescent Girls

Learning and teaching are main concepts within health contexts, but curriculum theory is generally overlooked in the design of health education. In this paper, we describe the curriculum development component of a health research study designed to develop and present educational interventions for adolescent girls. Through the use of these interventions, we encouraged the girls to recognize and address potential health compromises in their dating relationships. By blending our disciplinary approaches of nursing and education to address the challenges of this research, we developed a curriculum that would effectively meet the needs of the participants. To do this, we assessed humanistic, social reconstructionist, technological, and academic curriculum approaches to determine that our approach is one of social reconstruction. We then considered teacher-centered, learner-centered, and problem-centered curriculum designs, choosing both learner and problem centered, and analyzed six dimensions of these designs. We describe these approaches, designs, and dimensions of curriculum considering pedagogical issues, criteria for evaluation, and appropriateness to educational health intervention programs.

A Useful How-To Guide for Course and Curricula Revisions

A Useful How-To Guide for Course and Curricula Revisions

Acercamiento crítico a la selección objetiva de contenidos léxicos en la enseñanza de E/LE

The aim of this paper consists in offering a critical perspective on the main procedures for the objective selection of lexical contents in second language teaching. Three criteria are considered: frequency, use and availability. After analysing the methodological bases on this research field, and its results in the study of Spanish vocabulary, it is found out that none of them is satisfactory enough. The frequency criterion is revealed as the most operative of the three ones; thus, it may be a useful tool for teaching if we complement it with other data. But, into the context of a pedagogy based on a learner-centred curriculum, any objective selection of lexical contents must be subject to the learner's needs, the classroom negotiation, and the design of communicative learning tasks.

A Journey Toward Learner-Centered Curriculum

In higher education, competing demands for accountability and innovation in the face of globalization, technology, and budget cuts cause us to consider how best to prepare learners who will learn for a lifetime. We contend that a shift in our understanding of curriculum design to accommodate learner-centeredness will provide the framework for preparing graduates for a lifetime of learning. Learner-centered curriculum proposes to create highly developed individuals, providing them the skills to continue creating learning experiences, digest current knowledge, and create new knowledge within the curriculum itself. Curriculum characteristics, as identified in the curriculum design project presented here, include content appropriate to the characteristics of a new society. It also includes all that is required of a curriculum in order for it to be transparent and easily understood as the scaffolding of learning. This definition of a learner-centered curriculum includes components that educators deem to be relevant and vital for students. It adds curriculum processes and required outcomes to prepare students for curriculum creation alongside educators.

International TESOL Training and EFL Contexts: The Cultural Disillusionment Factor

This article reports on a study examining the implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT) in Bangladesh in general and at the University of Dhaka in particular. When CLT was first introduced across Europe, the English as a foreign language (EFL) context in which it would inevitably be applied was not considered. Here university EFL teachers discuss the problems and contradictions associated with adopting this western-forged methodology. One paradox faced by the teachers was that of an essentially learner-centred curriculum in a tradition where the centrality of the teacher is the culturally and socially sanctioned basis of teaching. Although in developing countries we cannot afford simply to retreat to traditional teaching methods, the study suggests the need for an educational agenda set within a new post-colonial framework which acknowledges the importance of the adaptation of CLT and recognises the significance of its applicability in Bangladesh.

The reconceptualisation of learner-centred approaches: a Namibian case study

The case study, which explored the implementation of learner-centred approaches, emerged from an action research study of a three-year INSET (In-service Education and Training) programme for 145 unqualified primary teachers in Namibia. A learner-centred curriculum was introduced in Namibia soon after her Independence from South Africa in 1990. It was considered an effective antidote to the stifling teacher-centred practices used within the previous apartheid system. The case study raises questions about the implementation of learner-centred approaches. Data emerged which indicated their non-implementation, and reasons are presented to explain this: teacher professional capacity at the time of the study, limited resources, cultural factors and learner background. Efforts within the INSET programme to support teachers’ implementation of learner-centred approaches led to their reconceptualisation. The study indicated the effectiveness of developing teachers’ skills in the use of whichever approaches, methods and skills best bring about learning. The study highlights the usefulness of an adaptive approach—examining the realities within which teachers work and experimenting with strategies that seek to achieve student learning within the limitations of these realities. The focus is on learning-centred rather than learner-centred approaches.

Congruence or conflict? Challenges in implementing problem-based learning across nursing cultures.

Using the "real-life" situation of delivering an Australian nursing curriculum in the Maldives, this paper argues that successful offshore delivery requires far more than simply implementing an existing programme on a different site. In health education, cultural and contextual circumstances necessitate a critical appraisal of the needs of the community and the corresponding attributes of those who provide health-care services. This means designing programmes that are process oriented and easily adapted to different circumstances, and a commitment to maintaining effective communication systems. Although it would seem that problem-based learning (PBL) provides the framework for a process-oriented, learner-centred curriculum, the paper raises questions about how universally relevant the processes embedded in PBL are and describes concerns about the intent and purpose of nominating PBL as the preferred instructional strategy for cross-cultural projects.

A learner-centered academic career development curriculum.

Objective: To develop a learner-centered curriculum introducing internal medicine residents to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for a successful academic career. Description: Much has been written about the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requirements that residents be trained in research.1 Indeed, our own program has successfully met this challenge.2 However, there is a growing recognition that a successful academic career requires more than just completing a successful research project. The goals of this curriculum development process were to identify areas academic clinicians felt were important to career development, to identify areas in which residents felt least informed, and to focus instruction in these areas. The authors developed a list of topics academic clinicians identified as important for career development. A list of 20 topics was submitted to residents, who were asked to rank each topic using a five-point Likert scale. We then chose the four topics with Likert means higher than 4.7 for incorporation into workshop for spring 2001. The workshops were (1) Academic Career Opportunities—an overview of the various types of academic careers, presented with six representative faculty describing career paths to becoming physician scientists, clinician educators, or scholarly clinicians; (2) How to Choose a Research Project and Optimize the Mentor Relationship—a discussion of project selection, mentor selection, and cultivation of the mentor relationship, between a senior scientist and three recent graduates of the residency; (3) How to Prepare a Curriculum Vitae, and Why a CV Is Important for Academic Acceptance and Promotion—an overview of academic ranks, the requirements for promotion, and the elements of a well-formed CV; and (4) Manuscript Preparation, Submission, and Review—a discussion of successful and unsuccessful manuscripts, errors and pitfalls to avoid in manuscript preparation and submission, and suggestions to optimize manuscript acceptance. Each workshop had predefined goals and objectives. An evaluation questionnaire consisting of six questions rated on a five-point Likert scale with a comment section was sent to the attendees to assess whether the goals and objectives had been met. The survey results were reviewed in a blinded fashion by the workshop coordinators. Discussion: We found that residents were interested in academic career development but had significant knowledge gaps. The evaluation process, particularly the comment section, was used to modify the 2001–02 sessions to better meet the needs of residents. For instance, we found that residents were extremely interested in academic rank and promotions, but they did not want to forego better CV development to learn about this. Consequently, we are separating these sessions. We are also conducting future workshops earlier in the academic year to give residents the opportunity to use skills in the formative stages of project development and to provide more time to cultivate the network of potential mentors. A longitudinal study of residents trained with this curriculum will chart their overall academic career development.

Curriculum Change in Norway: Thematic approaches, active learning and pupil cooperation - from curriculum design to classroom implementation

Laerplan 97 (L97) is a substantial programme of educational reform in Norway. It includes a subject-based, centrally determined curriculum more detailed than its predecessor, M87 (Monsterplan). L97 combines the compulsory delivery of a core of centrally determined knowledge with the flexibility for teachers to plan and teach with the local environment and resources in mind and in relation to topical issues and learners' interests. Teacher decision making in the selection of content and mode of delivery will be crucial aspects in the successful implementation of L97. This paper takes three key constructs within L97 and examines them more closely: thematic approaches to curriculum delivery, the active and independent learner and the cooperating learner, constructs traditionally associated with pupil autonomy and meaningful learning. Drawing on interviews with those responsible for designing the subject-related curricula and on teacher questionnaires, the study reveals how the journey from educational policy making to effective classroom practice would benefit from a continuing interface with all parties striving to understand links between the origins of ideological underpinnings and the reality of practice. Insights are drawn from curriculum development trends in England where a centrally determined curriculum has now been in place for over a decade and where debates about a learner-centred curriculum seem to have diminished.

Portfolio learning in general practice vocational training--does it work?

Reflective learning has been widely addressed as an important learning mechanism in the educational literature. The creation of portfolios has been seen as a mechanism to promote this, though there has been little exploration of the place of a portfolio in general practice training. This study examined the introduction of a model of a portfolio learning strategy into one training region. The model had been developed by previous pilot work. The study explored the model in terms of its usefulness in general practice training and its relationship to reflective learning. An educational facilitator was used to support this introduction. Workshops and written material were developed to disseminate and refine ideas generated in the pilot study. This was followed by visits to trainer/general practice registrar (GPR) pairs over a 2-year period. These visits included semistructured interviews, which were tape-recorded and analysed using qualitative methods. Additional written resources, video and audio material as well as new workshops were designed with the researched participants in order to promote the development of the concepts of portfolio learning. Sixty interviews were carried out over a 2-year period with 44 pairs of trainers and GPRs. This included a total of 27 trainers and 44 registrars. Eighteen pairs were interviewed twice. Two focus groups were used at the end of the project. Portfolios have a place to play in general practice vocational training. They act as a bridge between hospital and general practice. They can be used to develop a learner-centred curriculum, explore difficult emotive concerns and facilitate feedback. They do not suit all learning styles. Their use is determined by a cost-benefit analysis described in this study.

Using Standards in Simultaneous Renewal

Committed to the progressive tradition with its emphasis on learner-centered curriculum and learner-grounded assessment, faculty in the teacher education programs of the University of North Dakota and its affiliated Lake Agassiz Elementary School articulated program goals and implemented processes of portfolio assessment and group demonstrations of learning. These practices are evolving into assessment systems which are useful in drawing together appreciative audiences for student work, benchmarking student progress, and evaluating and reframing programs and the standards that inform them. The development of assessment processes which place primary value on student reflection has promoted student ownership of learning. The simultaneous development of parallel processes in a teacher education program and its professional development school has the potential to renew a powerful aspect of teaching practice.

A learner-centred foreign language curriculum for a large, diverse group of students? yes, it is possible

Abstract In the reality of learner diversity and large enrolment, how can we effectively deliver a foreign language curriculum that is learner-centred and communicatively-based, and that fosters learner autonomy? This paper proposes a curriculum innovation in which a curriculum holds two major components: one of self-directed learning project and the other of any syllabus type of one’s choice. The paper describes and discusses a case study, which is a trial of the proposed curriculum, then further makes recommendations for successful implementation of such a curriculum. The project section of the proposed curriculum has four stages: the introduction stage where the concepts and benefit of the project are introduced to learners; the planning stage where the learners draw learning contracts; the monitoring stage where the learners monitor and modify their learning; and the assessment stage where the learners assess their own performance in accordance with their learning contracts.

A learner-centered curriculum in public health at the University of Geneva

Switzerland's first master's program in public health was established in the fall of 1990 at the University of Geneva School of Medicine. The 3‐year program is fully learner centered and community oriented. The process of problem‐based learning (PBL), around which the program is designed, is well accepted by students and staff. In the summer of 1993, the first cohort of students was certified as competent public health specialists who have acquired relevant professional skills as well as a holistic “public health culture.” Throughout the curriculum, students plan, implement, and evaluate projects related to health problems they have encountered in their own employment as health professionals. Individual and group work, discussions and seminars with teachers and other students, and brainstorming sessions with the program's specially trained facilitators allow students to identify and achieve individual educational objectives while working on community‐related health projects. Beyond its internal objectives...

The Learner-Centred Curriculum: A Study in Second Language Teaching

The Learner-Centred Curriculum: A Study in Second Language Teaching

The Learner-Centred Curriculum: A Study in Second Language Teaching

The Learner-Centred Curriculum: A Study in Second Language Teaching

The Learner-Centred Curriculum: A Study in Second Language Teaching (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series)

The Learner-Centred Curriculum: A Study in Second Language Teaching (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series)