How to Create a Student-Centered Learning Environment

I’ve been researching “AI and education” for years. So little of my approach has to do with AI. Over the past 2 years, I’ve dug deep into… 1. Alternative Grading My students often overrely on AI because of the high-stress, grade-focused educational system. So, I need to find ways to deemphasize grades, and focus on learning as an exploratory, empowering process. 2. Present Teaching This is brand new for a lot of us. To get my students to be vulnerable (which is necessary to grow in this current world), I need to be vulnerable with them. I need to be “present,” and encourage my students to be present. 3. Process-Minded Teaching Product-based teaching has a lot of pressure on it right now. How do we approach assessment, if we have tools that (with some savvy prompting) can imitate thoughtful work pretty closely? For me, the answer is redesigning assessment to focus on process over product. And maybe that should always have been the case. 4. Teaching for Metacognition I’ve always prized metacognition and reflection. But honestly, this often meant asking students to (1) submit something and (2) reflect on it. I’ve take a step back, to think about what it meant to reflect and how we can improve our reflection process. +++ Here are some books that have really helped me along. https://lnkd.in/ezBHVW64 - Eric Detweiler, Responsible Pedagogy https://lnkd.in/ewSk2w8K - Susan D Blum, Ungrading https://lnkd.in/e9TThrrY - Liz Norell, The Present Professor +++ When it’s all said and done, I think AI will play a supporting role in my journey. It’s not a main character. It’s the push to create more student-centered learning environments that prioritize curiosity over compliance.

It is the start of the semester, and for many it will be their first time teaching. Teaching can feel like being thrown into the deep end, especially for new professors. Many of us, including myself, received little to no formal training on teaching. We were told, "Here's your classroom, now go teach," and we had to figure it out through trial and error. I learned most of what I know about effective teaching from observing great instructors and by constantly experimenting in my own classroom. The good news is that there are fundamental principles of pedagogy supported by research that can help. Here is some of what I've learned. 1. Activate Prior Knowledge - Students build new knowledge on the foundations of what they already know. Before introducing a new concept, I help them make connections to past experiences or previously learned material. This primes their brains and gives the new information an anchor. A simple question like, "Think back to the first time you heard about atomic orbitals, what were your first thoughts? What were the questions that came to your mind?” can make a huge difference. Putting what you are about to discuss in the context can be motivating for students. For example, “Now we are going to talk about the equation that governs their shapes and what those shapes even mean." 2. Foster a Culture of Psychological Safety - One of the most powerful things we can do as educators is to create a space where students feel safe to be vulnerable. This means celebrating questions and discussion. When a student starts a question with, "This might be a stupid question, but...", it's a critical moment. I make it a point to say, "There are no stupid questions." Being approachable and available outside of class is also key. I make a conscious effort to signal that my door is open and I am here to support them. 3. Connect Learning to the Real World - Students learn best by doing and by seeing how concepts apply to their lives. When designing assignments, I try to move beyond theory. I ask students to solve problems related to everyday experiences. I encourage them to look at the world around them through the lens of the course. This helps them see that science and engineering is everywhere, waiting to be discovered and understood. 4. Equip Students to Learn on Their Own - While we can use diverse teaching methods to cater to different learning styles, the reality is that we can't be everything to every student. This means empowering them to understand how they learn best. We need to educate them on the different learning strategies available and encourage them to experiment and discover what works for them. This shifts the focus from passively receiving information to actively taking ownership of their own education. Ultimately, great teaching is about much more than just conveying information. It's about building a relationship with students and helping them develop the skills to think critically and learn independently.

The best way to teach brainstorming? Let students brainstorm your teaching approach. Today, our design thinking class at the University of Kentucky, TEK 300, "Teens and Screens," reached a pivotal moment. With midterms behind us and spring break over, we faced a critical question: How might we structure the remaining weeks to promote deeper understanding rather than just blasting through the steps of our semester-long project? Instead of deciding for our students, we chose to "eat our own dog food"(as they used to say at Apple). (HT Reinhold Steinbeck, charles kerns) We turned our students into users and co-designers through a structured brainwriting session focused on this challenge. The process was beautifully simple: • Students received worksheets with our "How Might We" question and a 3×5 grid • Everyone silently wrote initial ideas (one per box) in the first row • Sheets rotated three times, with each person building on or adding to previous ideas • We ended with a gallery walk and dot-voting to identify the strongest concepts In just 20 minutes, we generated over 50 unique ideas! The winner? Incorporating hands-on, interactive activities in every session that directly connect to that day's learning objectives. The meta-realization? We were already practicing the solution before formally adopting it. The brainwriting exercise itself exemplified exactly what our students told us they wanted more of. My teaching partner Ryan Hargrove immediately began storyboarding how we'll implement this approach, moving us closer to the collaborative learning journey we want to have with our students. We're moving from "Once upon a time..." (not as great as we could be...) to "Students designed..." (active participation), to "Now we really dig learning all this..." Your students already know what they need; your job is to create space for them to tell you. P.S. What teaching approaches have you transformed by inviting your students to become co-designers of their learning experience? #DesignThinking #HigherEducation #TeachingInnovation #BuildingInPublic #StudentCenteredLearning