Design of Learning Environments

Designing Learning Environments is crucial. In my opinion, the advent of new technology related responsibilities and the unsupported trial of new approaches to teaching and learning have dragged teachers into a whirlpool of vacillation. It is harder to decide on what and how to teach, as well as, how to assess. The following paragraphs display a general view of four perspectives that explore the design of learning environments.

The first perspective is a learner-centered environment which values, respects and pays attention to learner’s prior conceptual and cultural knowledge, as well as being aware of what students think. The merging of contents of instruction with students’ home experiences has positive outcomes. Teachers, in this way, allow students to construct their own learning. However, some teachers fail to foster the exchange of thoughts and experiences amongst students as they are more focused on completing their scheduled subject related plan.

The second perspective is a knowledge-centered environment which primarily focuses on making students become educated on sense-making through a well-organized body of knowledge, metacognition and questioning practices. As an IT teacher, I found that students saw little applicability to the information and structures that were being taught. Students received training in IT routines without understanding the overall picture. Experience led me to use Lego Mindstorms in the class to promote collaborative work using ludic activities with robots. This experience presented a balance to the promotion of understanding and the promotion of skills.

The third perspective is an assessment-centered environment which provides opportunities for feedback and revision. I have to admit that as an instructor I sometimes failed to provide timely feedback to my students. My rush of passing to the next topic lent little time for teacher and students’ interaction to assess the learning process. Hence, I decided to use self-assessments and peer-assessments to have students record their impressions for my subsequent revision and feedback. Nowadays, schools face the need to show better examination results using standardized tests that over emphasize memory procedures and facts. Nevertheless, effective environments make use of frequent simple assessments and portfolios that provide a way to measure progress work throughout the year.

The fourth perspective is a community –centered environment in which people learn from one another. Sometimes, social norms can hinder students’ willingness to ask questions because of fear to be pointed out as an inept. In addition, cultural expectations prevent girls from taking computer classes in high school. In my former job, overseas staff used to say that Peruvian high school students had a lower level of maturity than Anglo students. Several approaches led to breaking the dream bubble that these students lived in. The membership to International Organizations has enabled students to gain a global understanding of their environment.

Finally, the importance of alignment is presented as a balance between all these perspectives and the kinds of activities that students tend to be engaged in after school. For example, caring family environments and positive uses of television contribute to accelerate positive learning outside the schools.