Alyssa Henshaw
PGY1 Pharmacy Resident
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore
In this advice article, Leonard Cassuto divulges the fact that, although many “professional intellectuals” strive to teach graduate courses as a professor, there is little information or research available focusing specifically on the graduate classroom. Most educational information applies to high school and undergraduate students, but when these students choose to continue their journey into learning, they are faced with traditional lecture-style delivery of information and seminar discussions that can quickly lose focus. Cassuto describes much of graduate education as utilizing the “beach ball method”, where the professor depends on students to keep discussion going by bouncing ideas off each other and moving through different topics without direction. He makes the argument for “student centered learning” to continue into the graduate classrooms to encourage more effective learners1.
Some individuals may interpret “student centered learning” as hand-holding, or spoon-feeding information in a pedagogical sense2. They may say that there is no place for this type of teaching in graduate programs, where students are expected to be nearly professionals in their field and be self-motivated to learn everything they can. While these qualities of students may not differ, using student centered learning can make the graduate experience more effective. Instead of “spoon-feeding” information, student centered learning is rather a philosophy making the student central to their own learning2. That is to say, students have responsibility for their learning, and we can foster that responsibility by giving students a voice in the classroom and creating activities that foster more engagement. On the contrary to many beliefs, student-centered learning incorporates many aspects of andragogical methods, including students’ responsibility for learning, self-evaluating their own work, and creating relevance to real-life scenarios.
One story cited by Cassuto describes a research seminar course in which students were required to write original research. The problem that developed in this course was that students took so long to choose a topic, that they often did not have time remaining to adequately complete the writing. The result was that students were not getting the benefit that the course intended- to gain experience in research skills and writing. The professor changed the course so that instead of a paper, there were “research reports” based on sources that he had gathered, which created a research-training exercise and allowed students to get hands-on experience and learn the basic skills they had been lacking. By actively observing the results of his planned course, the professor saw that the true goal was not being accomplished and by changing the course to fit the needs of his students, there was an observable change in outcomes1. This story paints the example about how we do not need to cater directly to students to be successful in the student-centered learning model, but by taking their skills and motivations into account, we can create a much more effective learning environment to accomplish the goals of our courses.
Other methods that can help develop a student-centered classroom include hands-on activities that promote student engagement3. This may include cooperative learning, in which students work together in pairs or a small group to complete a task. Cooperative learning not only gives students examples of how their knowledge can be applied to problem solving, but encourages discussion and participation because other group members are relying on the student. Case studies are another great way to introduce real-life scenarios into the classroom, where students can develop critical thinking skills and learn how to approach situations they are likely to see in practice. Class-wide discussions will also foster engagement and may help to answer questions that multiple students have, giving us as instructors a chance to clarify our teaching points. In each of these examples, the teacher is not “hand-holding” the students or otherwise coddling them, but rather shifting from a structure of solely lecturing or non-guided discussions, to more focused activities that not only provide information to students, but give them the chance to apply that information in the same sitting.
Finally, one of the most important aspects of student centered learning is reflection and feedback. This includes student reflection, which may take place after the conclusion of an assignment or case study, in which students may discuss which areas of the task were more difficult or required more effort and why that was the case3. These types of reflective activities give students the chance to clarify any remaining unclear information, and learn how to evaluate themselves and determine their own areas of weakness that need improvement. Instructor feedback is also critically important to student centered learning. Students providing feedback to instructors after activity completion tell the instructor if the goals of that lesson were realized. Did students feel more engaged, did they report a benefit from the activity versus a standard lecture, or do they have any suggestions for future activities? Feedback can also occur on a larger scale at the midway point in the course and/or at the end of the course, where students are given the opportunity to reflect on a longer period of learning and report if they strategies employed cohesively contributed to their learning. They can determine if there were areas in the course content that they did not feel they received adequate instruction on, or areas where perhaps there was more focus than required, so that the course can be tweaked in the future and provide the most meaningful content for the students. Previous studies have shown that, overall, students enjoy student-centered learning or problem-based learning, and felt that the discussions in class helped to further their understanding of the topics, in addition to increasing communication and cognitive skills4.
Creating a student-centered approach can be difficult at first, and as Cassuto reports, many graduate-professors do not want to take the time and effort required to implement this method of teaching. However, we can pull meaningful pieces from student-centered learning and incorporate it into our own teaching so that we are providing the best teaching for our students, while maintaining them at the higher standards of graduate education.
References:
1. Cassuto L. Student-centered graduate teaching. The chronicles of higher education [Internet]. 2013 Nov 4 [cited 2018 Oct 21]. Available from: https://www.chronicle.com/article/Student-Centered-Graduate/142791/
2. Warner H. One perspective on student-centered learning [Internet]. Washington DC. Inside Higher Ed; 2015 Oct 13 [cited 2018 Oct 21]. Available from: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/one-perspective-student-centered-learning
3. Gorzycki M. Student-Centered Teaching [Internet]. San Francisco (CA). San Francisco State University: The Center for Teaching and Faculty Development. [cited 2018 Oct 21]. Available from: https://ctfd.sfsu.edu/content/student-centered-teaching#Student-Centered%20Activity%20Outside%20Classroom
4. Kandi V, Basireddy PR. Creating a student-centered learning environment: implementing problem-based learning to teach microbiology to undergraduate medical students. Cureus [Internet]. 2018 Jan 5 [cited 2018 Oct 21]; 10(1):e2029. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5837329/
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