Technology in the Learner-Centered Classroom Environment

Introduction

One of the primary goals of teachers and educators is ensuring that student learning is successful. The educational system within the United States is constantly being evaluated and re-evaluated to determine what technologies and programs are best suited to enhance student achievement. In modern times, technology has become synonymous with progress, change, advancement, and learning. It has become a staple in the lives of everyday citizens, in classrooms, and in corporations.

Technology can impact the classroom in positive ways by helping educators create a team-oriented learning community where participants are encouraged to explore the world by capitalizing on their own unique skills, abilities, and interests. Technology can also help educators assess students' learning capability, learning style, and knowledge frame of reference — all critical elements of a learner-centered classroom environment. The ways that technology facilitates the learner-centered environment are explored in greater detail below.

Success Factors in the Classroom

Over the course of recent years, several factors have been identified that favorably impact student learning in the classroom environment. Teachers have begun realizing that creation of a learner-centered classroom environment is an optimal condition for learning (Brown, 2003). A learner-centered classroom environment, unlike a content-centered or teacher-centered learning environment, provides a more contextually relevant classroom setting for diverse students who bring multiple experiences to the classroom.

Before one can describe the manner in which technology benefits the learner-centered classroom environment, one must first understand what a learner-centered environment encompasses. The learner-centered environment focuses on and capitalizes on the unique skills, abilities, experiences, and interests of individual students. The American Psychological Association created a task force that established several guidelines for the creation of a learner-centered environment. The task force arranged each of the learner-centered principles into four categories: (1) cognitive and metacognitive factors; (2) motivational and affective factors; (3) developmental and social factors; and (4) individual differences factors (Brown, 2003, p. 99).

Each of these categories can be applied to a classroom environment that utilizes information technology to enhance learning. The ways that technology can facilitate a learner-centered environment with respect to each of these elements are described below.

The Learner-Centered Environment and Technology

For learning to be successful, a classroom must be learner-centered rather than content-centered, meaning that teachers must be sensitive to students' individual needs and consider learner-related factors such as prior knowledge, talents, interests, social orientations, and diverse student cultures (Brown, 2003). Once a teacher has determined each of these elements, they can organize content in a manner best suited to address each learner's needs (McCombs, 2001).

A learner-centered environment will naturally incorporate the use of technology because technology is an ever-present aspect of the lives of most students. Most students' prior knowledge, talents, and interests will involve some familiarity with personal computers or other forms of technology. Students not exposed to technology early on may have considerable difficulty succeeding later in life as more and more aspects of modern living are influenced by technological advances.

One way that teachers can utilize technology in the learner-centered environment is to assess students' knowledge, talents, interests, and culture via online surveys, activities, and questionnaires. Assessment is a critical component of the learner-centered classroom environment (Brown, 2003). By assessing students' knowledge and skills via the web, the teacher not only acquires the information needed to establish an effective learner-centered environment but also succeeds in exposing students to technology.

Instruction must also be provided at a developmentally appropriate level for students to excel in the learner-centered classroom (Manning & Bucher, 2000). Teachers must therefore assess whether the concepts examined and the skills required to complete tasks successfully match students' abilities from both a social and a cognitive standpoint (Brown, 2003).

Technology allows many avenues for developing age-appropriate learning material. The information available on the internet and via computers can be as complex or as simple as necessary to help students learn. From the early kindergarten years, children can use technology to learn about shapes, colors, language, and more.

Instruction must also be geared toward many different and diverse learning styles in order to be successful, because students learn in multiple ways (Speaker, 2001; Brown, 2003). A learner-centered classroom environment will focus on many different approaches and teaching methods rather than just one. Sensory experiences may be combined with verbal ones to accommodate every student's needs. Technology in the classroom provides the perfect opportunity to introduce several different teaching approaches. An instructor might introduce new material via a traditional lecture, then allow students to engage in sensory and visual learning via the web or through interactive computer programs, applying the information learned immediately in an engaging manner.

For a learner-centered classroom to be successful, it must also provide learning in an environment that is "contextually relevant" to student experiences and prior learning. A teacher should begin by presenting material that students already know and then progress to the unknown, focusing on real-world examples and true-to-life experiences (Brown, 2003). In this type of environment, it is critical that teachers provide activities that allow students to utilize new concepts and technologies in meaningful and practical ways (Brown, 2003). Contextual relevance in modern society naturally indicates a need for technology-supplemented learning.

It is also critical in a learner-centered environment that students are provided with choices regarding assignments and the manner in which they complete and deliver them. This reflects the understanding that students have many different learning styles; what works for one student may not be optimal for all (Brown, 2003; Dare, 2001). Students may be given the option of delivering assignments via the web or completing them using computer-based software programs. This is a simple and effective way to introduce technology into the classroom in a non-imposing manner. The computer can thus serve as one method of adapting to different learning and delivery styles.

Burns (2002), along with several other educators and researchers, embarked on a project with K–12 educators that worked toward applying technology to the learner-centered environment. The program involved six schools defined as low-performing or high-risk. Instruction in these schools had primarily been teacher-centered with little to no technology use. Through the adoption of technology, however, the classroom environments were transformed from "distant" into effective, collaborative learning environments where teachers began reporting better student work and fewer disciplinary issues (Burns, 2002). The transformation was due in part to the learner-centered approach as well as the adoption of technology to assist with teaching and learning.

Technology can best be used in a learner-centered environment when it is engaged with content directly; activities should be developed that focus on cultivating skills and learning concepts rather than on a specific body of knowledge alone (Burns, 2002). In this way, technology functions as an educational aid and tool rather than an end in itself.