Student-Centered Teaching Strategies in Higher Education

I used to struggle connecting with my students. I knew that was the most important part of my job. So I found a better way. I hope you find it as useful as I did. It's the R.E.L.A.T.E framework. Don't skip any step. It's a package deal. R - Recognize individuality Every student is different. Notice their strengths, weaknesses, and interests. If you don't understand them, you can't reach them. E - Empathize with them What might they be experiencing? Don't just assume. Dig and find out. Teaching isn't just about academics. L - Listen to them Find out what they're going through. Understand why they might be disengaged. When you care you become someone they trust. A - Affirm their feelings Identify their concerns. Explain why their feelings are valid. Make sure they see you understand them. A few moments can make them feel seen and respected. T - Teach human skills It's not all about academics. Teach them empathy, responsibility, resilience. Validate their need to learn these skills. This helps them trust your guidance. E - Ensure regular feedback Address any concerns they have about their performance. Provide constructive feedback (hint: use AI). Encourage them to do better. When students see you put in effort They will reciprocate. This framework has been a game-changer for me. I hope it does the same for you.

RIGOROUS INSTRUCTION STRATEGIES: Setting Goals — Effective teachers set and communicate clear lesson goals to help students understand the success criteria, commit to the learning, and provide the appropriate mix of success and challenge. Relevance — Be sure to address the question, “Why do we have to learn this?” Develop learning experiences that are either directly applicable to the personal aspirations, interests, or cultural experiences of students (personal relevance) or that are connected in some way to real-world issues, problems, and contexts (life relevance). Project-Based Learning — Make lessons meaningful by allowing students to actively explore real-world problems and acquire a deeper knowledge of the subject. Inquiry-Based Learning — Pique student interest and heighten motivation with the core premise being that learning should be based around student questions with the teacher’s job being the facilitator of students discovering knowledge themselves. Experiential Learning — Ensure hands-on learning by intentionally planning for students to make meaning from direct experiences (i.e., learning by doing). Bloom’s Taxonomy/DOK — While lesson planning, utilize one of the taxonomies to ensure questions and student activities are intentionally scaffolded and appropriate for each student’s readiness level. Start by asking questions beginning with “Why?” and “How?” Constructed Response/Writing — Incorporate writing across the curriculum with intentional focus on teaching the writing process. Consider the “RACE” strategy (Restate the question, Answer the question, Cite the source, Explain), CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) and various graphic organizers and sentence stems. Discussion — Require students to frequently engage in discussion about the content. Provide a prompt, set a timer, and determine partners/groups. Try partnering structures like: Think-Pair-Share, Socratic Seminar, Give One/Get One, Write Pair-Share, and Notice/Wonder responses

How can we create a dynamic and flexible learning environment that fosters personalized, competency-based learning, maximizes student engagement, and nurtures creativity and innovation both indoors and outdoors? #1 Learner-Centered Approach As Eric Sheninger states more emphasis on the “who” we are teaching than the “what” we are teaching! - Emphasize the individual learner's strengths, interests, and needs, shifting from a focus on content delivery to personalizing learning experiences. This includes fostering student agency and choice, where learners have a voice in shaping their educational journey. #2 Interdisciplinary Competencies What learning habits do we want life long learners to possess? - Develop transferable, whole-learner competencies that integrate content knowledge with real-world skills and dispositions. Move from teaching discrete grade-level standards to fostering higher-level competencies that prepare students for diverse challenges. #3 Mastery-Based Progression How are we moving from accountants of points to mentors of young people? Right Devin Vodicka! - Shift from traditional seat-time measures to proficiency-based progression. Students advance upon demonstrating mastery of key learning outcomes, allowing for personalized pacing and ensuring genuine understanding before moving forward. #4 Flexible Learning Environments How are we making education more geographically fluid? - Create adaptable learning environments that support individual learning paths. This includes flexible seating, schedules, virtual courses, and self-paced mastery, promoting a more engaging and accommodating educational setting. #5 Effective Pedagogy and Data-Driven Personalization How do we know if what we are doing is working? - Employ effective pedagogical techniques such as cooperative learning, differentiation, scaffolding, and innovative assessments like portfolios to empower learners. SpacesEDU uses evidence of learning data not just for collection, but to personalize and celebrate learning to meet each student's unique needs. Sierra Holtzheuser These five principles collectively create a personalized, competency-based learning environment that is flexible, engaging, and focused on the individual learner's growth and mastery. What would you add? What does your ideal learning environment look like? Your Friend, Danelle Almaraz InnovateEd #onthemove