Learner-centered was a watchword in the literature on teaching and education even before the American Psychological Association published its Learner-Centered Psychological Principles: Guidelines for School Redesign and Reform in 1993. McCombs and Whisler (1997) define learner-centered education as “the perspective that couples a focus on individual learners (their heredity, experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, talents, interests, capacities, and needs) with a focus on learning (the best available knowledge about learning and how it occurs and about teaching practices that are most effective in promoting the highest levels of motivation, learning, and achievement for all learners)” (p. 9). At some institutions, such as Northern Kentucky University, learner-centered teaching has been identified as a core value. It is clear that the APA's learner-centered psychological principles have implications for how professors should teach. As Crookston (1972) and others (Appleby, 2001; Hendey, 1999) have observed, academic advising is a type of teaching, and so these principles also have implications for how academic advising is conducted.

Developmental Academic Advising

According to Crookston (1972), developmental advising “is concerned not only with a specific personal or vocational decision but also with facilitating the student's rational processes, environmental and interpersonal interactions, behavior awareness, and problem-solving, decision-making, and evaluation skills. Not only are these advising functions but ... they are essentially teaching functions as well” (p. 12). In Crookston's developmental academic advising model, the academic adviser acts as a facilitator, assisting the student in developing decision-making skills. Advisers must not only be prepared to help students navigate the complex general education and graduation requirements but also help students find personal meaning and direction in their own education. Accomplishing this task requires that advisers challenge students to draw explicit connections between their choices—for example, between the choice of major or minor and career aspirations, between course selection and major or minor, or between course selection and past life experiences that might make the course uniquely meaningful to the student. In short, the academic adviser must help students to weave a web of meaning for their college careers and at the same time teach them strategies for weaving webs of meaning in their vocational and personal lives.

Learner-Centered Psychological Principles

In 1993, the American Psychological Association's Presidential Task Force on Psychology in Education developed twelve psychological principles for learner-centered education and identified the implications of these principles for instruction, curriculum, assessment, and other aspects of the educational enterprise. The Task Force divided these twelve principles into five categories: metacognitive and cognitive factors, affective factors, developmental factors, personal and social factors, and individual differences (see Table).

American Psychological Association's Learner-Centered Psychological Principles

Metacognitive and Cognitive Factors

  1. The nature of the learning process. Learning is a natural process of pursuing personally meaningful goals, and it is active, volitional, and internally mediated; it is a process of discovering and constructing meaning from information and experience, filtered through the learner's unique perceptions, thoughts, and feelings.
  2. Goals of the learning process. The learner seeks to create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge regardless of the quantity and quality of data available.
  3. The construction of knowledge. The learner links new information with existing and future-oriented knowledge in uniquely meaningful ways.
  4. Higher-order thinking. Higher-order strategies for “thinking about thinking”—for overseeing and monitoring mental operations—facilitate creative and critical thinking and the development of expertise.

Affective Factors

  1. Motivational influences on learning. The depth and breadth of information processed and what and how much is learned and remembered are influenced by (a) self-awareness and beliefs about personal control, competence, and ability; (b) clarity and saliency of personal values, interests, and goals; (c) personal expectations for success or failure; (d) affect, emotion, and general states of mind; and (e) the resulting motivation to learn.
  2. Intrinsic motivation to learn. Individuals are naturally curious and enjoy learning, but intense negative cognitions and emotions (e.g. feeling insecure, worrying about failure, being self-conscious or shy, and fearing corporal punishment, ridicule, or stigmatizing labels) thwart this enthusiasm.
  3. Characteristics of motivation-enhancing learning tasks. Curiosity, creativity, and higher-order thinking are stimulated by relevant, authentic learning tasks of optimal difficulty and novelty for each student.

Developmental Factors

  1. Developmental constraints and opportunities. Individuals progress through stages of physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development that are a function of unique genetic and environmental factors.

Personal and Social Factors

  1. Social and cultural diversity. Learning is facilitated by social interactions and communication with others in flexible, diverse (in age, culture, family background, etc.), and adaptive instructional settings.
  2. Social acceptance, self-esteem, and learning. Learning and self-esteem are heightened when individuals are in respectful and caring relationships with others who see their potential, genuinely appreciate their unique talents, and accept them as individuals.

Personal Differences

  1. Individual differences in learning. Although basic principles of learning, motivation, and effective instruction apply to all learners ... learners have different capabilities and preferences for learning mode and strategies. These differences are a function of environment ... and heredity....
  2. Cognitive filters. Personal beliefs, thoughts, and understandings resulting from prior learning and interpretations become the individual's basis for constructing reality and interpreting life experiences.

Metacognitive and Cognitive Factors

One implication of these principles is that effective instruction “involves students in their own learning” (APA, 1993, p. 10). The metacognitive and cognitive factors identified by the Task Force indicate that students are naturally active learners. They naturally enjoy learning and “pursue personally relevant learning goals,” integrating and internalizing what they learn (p. 10). Students make learning personally meaningful by linking it with existing (e.g., life experience, previous classroom learning, and work experience) and future-oriented knowledge (e.g., career aspirations and personal goals). In addition, students are naturally self-reflective and, as a result, tend to link learning to personal interests, goals, and values. Therefore, the most effective teachers are those who maximize student learning by capitalizing on students' natural inclination to learn, integrate, and reflect. In their roles as facilitators, teachers must “create learning environments and opportunities” through which they may “guide and help students discover the meaning of the concepts they are studying” (D. M. Brown, 2003, p. 102). This tenet is the heart of active learning: students learn by doing.

To be learner-centered educators, academic advisers should take time to identify each student's unique talents, interests, and prior learning and consider these as starting points for helping students make decisions about career, major, and course selections. In addition, advisers must be sensitive to the fact that some of their advisees will be savvier than others when it comes to navigating the higher education bureaucracy. Those who have no prior experience with administrative procedures, student support services, and even course scheduling will need more guidance than those who have learned how to make their way through college. This navigation will be especially challenging for first-generation college students, as their families will be unable to provide insights into the workings of the institution. Advisers should always remember their role as facilitators and thus should avoid scheduling courses for students, instead requiring students to do their own course scheduling in consultation with the adviser. Consultations can be used to raise questions about the feasibility (“Do you think you can make it all the way from Stevens Hall to Jones Hall in ten minutes?”) and desirability (“Is it the best choice to take only math and science courses next semester?”) of the schedule the student has developed. In this way, advisers model good questioning and decision-making skills.¹

Affective Factors

The student's own self-concept (e.g., belief in his or her ability to succeed, sense of control over his or her own life and choices, the “clarity and saliency of personal values, interests, and goals”) and general mindset can either facilitate or interfere with the ability to learn (APA, 1993, p. 7). Furthermore, “students need opportunities to make choices in line with their interests and to have the freedom to change the course of learning in light of self-awareness, discovery, or insights” (p. 7). Thus, effective teachers support and encourage students to explore subjects that they are naturally curious about and provide students with a degree of control over learning strategies and opportunities to apply the knowledge they have acquired from the course in personally meaningful ways.

Academic advisers need to meet with students at times other than when students are ready to register for the upcoming semester. It is important to touch base with students during the semester to see how they are doing with the courses they are currently taking, to inquire about their evolving career aspirations, and to further develop aspects of the personal relationship between adviser and advisee. Getting to know students on a personal level can open up the door to casual conversations in which students reveal what intrigues them or piques their curiosity. Advisers can then use this information in helping students to explore career, major, and course options.

Developmental Factors

Student learning is mediated by a variety of individual developmental factors as well. Although all teachers are aware that the intellectual development of students varies and that, as a result, they must approach course content accordingly, highly effective teachers also attend to the student's emotional and physical development (K. L. Brown, 2003). Advisers who are unfamiliar with developmental stages may want to delve into the theories of Piaget (1952), Vygotsky (1978), or Erikson (1963). In addition, the teaching literature provides information on how to tailor classroom activities, assessments, and processes to the various developmental stages of the learner.

Personal and Social Factors

Interaction with a variety of other students “representing different cultural and family backgrounds, interests, and values” facilitates learning (APA, 1993, p. 8). Effective learner-centered teachers incorporate opportunities for students to interact with one another in a variety of meaningful ways in the classroom (e.g., debates or group discussions). Interactions with the teacher also affect student learning. The teacher's “states of mind, stability, trust, and caring are preconditions for establishing a sense of belonging, self-respect, self-acceptance, and positive climate for learning” (p. 8). Thus, effective learner-centered instruction ensures that all students have experience with teachers who are not only interested in their area of instruction but also respect and value students as individuals and have optimistic expectations of their success. Likewise, positive experiences with advisers who demonstrate a sincere interest in students' lives and wellbeing can promote learning. Although it may sometimes be difficult to do so, advisers should strive to be consistently optimistic, caring, and respectful toward all students.

Individual Differences

Each student has a unique life story. These stories determine how students view the world (e.g., assumptions about what their career options are) and make sense of their experiences in life. To some extent, the stories also determine their capabilities and learning style preferences. But students are not necessarily cognizant of either of these factors. Academic advisers can promote self-awareness in these respects by offering students the opportunity to take a learning style inventory.² In conversation, advisers should help students to recognize assumptions that unnecessarily limit their opportunities and choices.

Conclusion

It should be clear by now that in keeping with the principles for learner-centered education, advising must be developmental rather than prescriptive. Advisers must consider learning styles and needs, prior knowledge, talents, interests, social orientations, linguistic abilities, and cultures as starting points. They must sincerely believe in the ability of every student to succeed and must help each to develop physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually. An important role of the adviser is to facilitate and encourage self-reflection and goal setting and to help students reflect on the purpose of education and assess their own learning. Given that students are at different developmental stages and have their own unique learning styles, advisers must take care to provide a “scaffolding” for making choices—a step-by-step (though not necessarily linear) process to help students understand the purpose and goals of education and to achieve their own professional or vocational objectives (D. M. Brown, 2003, p. 101). In addition, advisers need to “encourage problem-solving, planning, complex decision making ... and other strategies that enhance the development of higher-order thinking and use of metacognitive strategies” (APA, 1993, p. 10). To ensure student success, advisers must help students build on their past successes and must promote empathy, understanding, respect for individual differences, and the valuing of different perspectives. Such a learner-centered developmental approach to academic advising will go far in helping students develop into confident, self-aware, goal-directed, and independent adults.

Notes

  1. For further discussion of how academic advisers can incorporate principles of active learning, see Mann (1999).
  2. Many such inventories are available on the Internet, such as David A. Kolb's “Learning Style Inventory” or Soloman and Felder's “Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire.”