Seminar 15P - Learner-Centered Instruction in an Age of Mass-Market Education

The workshop will present proven strategies for learner-centered instruction that can be used in the largest lecture classes with minimal instructional support. They've been successfully used in the presenter's department for 500-seat lecture classes. Data on learning gains will be shown; examples are from astronomy but the methods are applicable across science and often outside science. Workshop participants will get to try many of these methods. Barriers to acceptance and adoption will also be covered, as will tips for successful deployment and support of these methods, and guidelines for faculty development and changes to the reward structure. Examples of IT that promote student learning will also be presented, including inexpensive and scalable uses of virtual worlds and social networks. The pressures of increasing enrollment and declining budgets will force many public institutions in the direction of larger class sizes, and these methods will be crucial in preserving high-quality instruction.