Teacher Centered Vs. Learner Centered

In teacher-centered education, students put all of their focus on the teacher. The teacher talks, while the students exclusively listen. During activities, students work alone, and collaboration is discouraged.

Pros

• When education is teacher-centered, the classroom remains orderly. Students are quiet, and the teacher retains full control of the classroom and its activities.
• Because students learn on their own, they learn to be independent and make their own decisions.
• Because the teacher directs all classroom activities, they don’t have to worry that students will miss an important topic.

Cons

• When students work alone, they don’t learn to collaborate with other students, and communication skills may suffer.
• Teacher-centered instruction can get boring for students. Their minds may wander, and they may miss important facts.
• Teacher-centered instruction doesn’t allow students to express themselves, ask questions and direct their own learning.

Learner-Centered teaching means the student is at the center of learning.  The student assumes the responsibility for learning while the instructor is responsible for facilitating the learning.  Thus, the power in the classroom shifts to the student.  The sites below will help you in learning how to become more learner-centered in your teaching.

Pros

• Students learn important communicative and collaborative skills through group work.
• Students learn to direct their own learning, ask questions and complete tasks independently.
• Students are more interested in learning activities when they can interact with one another and participate actively.

Cons

• Because students are talking, classrooms are often busy, noisy and chaotic.
• Teachers must attempt to manage all students’ activities at once, which can be difficult when students are working on different stages of the same project.
• Because the teacher doesn’t deliver instruction to all students at once, some students may miss important facts.
• Some students prefer to work alone, so group work can become problematic.