Learner-Centered Course Design

A learner-centered instructional design is far more complex than providing riveting discussions or choices within the syllabus. A learner-centered focus demands a developmental understanding of how students transform into adults capable of making individual choices, managing multi-dimensional relationships and creating self-awareness to sustain growth over time. This chapter will address transformation (Mezirow, 2000), learner-centered pedagogy (Weimer, 2002), the demands of the millennial student, and the use of significant learning experiences (Fink, 2003) which incorporates both teaching and learning experience.