2 Paradigms

Two Paradigms of Teaching

One professional development initiative that can have a major impact on your teaching is to join a group of colleagues who share the common cause of trying to increase the amount of learner-centeredness in their courses. Many faculty—full-time, adjunct, and administrative—are already using quite a few methods to engage students and to encourage them to persist.

To determine if your courses are already learner-centered, take a look at a seminal article by Barr and Tagg (1995), especially the summary charts at the end that list many differences between a teaching college and a "learning college" by characterizing each way of looking at higher education, each "paradigm," that drives instructional decisions from the classroom to the conference room. http://www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/~med/articles/barrtagg.htm

Here’s one piece, mostly about course design and instructional practice. Although the entries are a bit cryptic, try to see which set characterizes your current attitude and practice, the "Instruction" or "Teaching" Paradigm or "The Learning Paradigm."

Directions: Place a checkmark next to the item in each line that best characterizes your current practices in your classes. Admittedly, some of these are imposed by the college or an outside accrediting or credentialing agency. At the moment, just consider the totals for each column—do you have more checks in the "Instruction Paradigm" column or in "The Learning Paradigm" column?

Teaching/Learning Structures
The Instruction Paradigm	The Learning Paradigm
Atomistic; parts prior to whole	Holistic; whole prior to parts
Time held constant, learning varies	Learning held constant, time varies
50-minute lecture, 3-unit course	Learning environments [vary as needed]
Classes start/end at same time	Environment ready when student is
One teacher, one classroom	Whatever learning experience works
Independent disciplines, departments	Cross discipline/department collaboration
Covering material	Specified learning results
End-of-course assessment [aka "summative evaluation" of students and one-time course evaluation]	Pre/during/post assessments [aka "formative"]- evaluations of students and of course, in addition to summative evaluations]
Grading within classes by instructors	External evaluations of learning
Private assessment	Public assessment
Degree equals accumulated credit hours	Degree equals demonstrated knowledge and skills
Total =	Total =

Out of the 11 pairs, if you have mostly checked "The Learning Paradigm" column as characterizing your current practices in your classes, then your teaching fosters active learning. If, like most of us, more of your checkmarks appear in the column for "The Instruction Paradigm," you probably see yourself as focusing on the content rather than the method.

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