Abstract:
Despite presence of novel learning techniques, many academics are still using
traditional teaching methods and how many adopt Student centered learning (SCL)
approaches is not reported. Thus, the aim of the study was to investigate the
academics perception on SCL. A mini workshop of SCL was conducted for the
academics of a Health Sciences Faculty of a Sri Lankan university. Using a
questionnaire comprised of open-ended questions (given before and after the
workshop), data on type of teaching methods used and types of teaching methods
they wished to incorporate into their teaching introduced by the workshop were
collected. The participants (n=20) included senior and junior academics in areas of
Nursing (n= 6), Pharmacy (n=6), and Medical Laboratory Science (n=8) degree level
programmes. Among them only 15% (n=3) had received a training on SCL. However,
majority (70%) were using SCL related activities (group discussions, question and
answer sessions, student presentations, active reading and practical
demonstrations). Minority (n=3) were of the belief that traditional teacher centered
learning is more beneficial to students. After introducing different SCL approaches
during the workshop, 100% of the participants said they will adopt SCL activities
including active reading, active writing, role plays, small group discussions, jigsaw
method, question and answer sessions, posters in their teaching. Majority (95%) of
participants believed that SCL will facilitate deep insights and will make an
interactive learning environment for the learners. However, 35% of participants
believed that SCL adds additional work to the teacher. Limitation of the space of
the classroom, time and difficulty to teach theoretical aspects and concepts were
the identified limitations for SCL adoption by the participants. All participants
believed that having similar workshops to share the novel teaching methods used
by peers will be beneficial to uplift the quality of teaching.
Even though academics believe SCL is more effective, few academics (30%) still
practice teacher centered approaches. Introducing more workshops on SCL and
teaching methods will be beneficial to improve quality teaching.
