User:Agyeifosu

Student-Focused Pedagogy: A Learning Theory, a Learning Style and Delivery Approach: Student-Focused Pedagogy is a new learning and delivery approach using Internet and its technologies in the classroom setting; students participate actively in the learning process at their own pace. Learning exercises (activities) are hands on. Students get feedback to their learning exercise, hence motivating them to tackle more tasks. Its learning theory is premised on principles.

Instructional Approach: Student-Focused Pedagogy is an instructional approach, because the Internet is used as a medium of instruction in the classroom setting, enabling the teacher or instructor to pay attention to individual students' needs in terms of learning. The blackboard's function is reduced to a minimum as a lesson is projected from a server for initial stimulation, at most, a quarter of the duration of the lesson. The idea behind it is to reduce excessive verbal stimulation as learners have limited attention span and information overload. In addition, in the SPF approach, the time that a teacher or instructor spends in writing the material on the blackboard is reduced to minimum. On the other hand, multimedia stimulation is more colorful and rich in content, hence carries more message in context, fostering easy understanding.

Learning Style: Students develop their own learning styles in the traditional classroom. In the SFP approach, these learning styles tend to blend since learners learn using the Internet as a medium at their own pace in the classroom. The learner is involved in the learning process over fifty percent of the duration of a lesson or a course. The learner watches a video or movie clips embedded in the lesson; answers questions or designs or develops models; solves mathematics problems in the traditional styles using templates with digital feedback mechanisms; performs physical activities after demonstration. In the SPF approach, there are four paradigms in the learning process, namely: information, computation, investigation, and performing. These paradigms can be used exclusively or in tandem with other paradigms. In any situation, the information paradigm is a super-set and all the other paradigms are sub-sets. This is so, because the human brain processes materials that impact our senses as information and store it in the long term memory (LTM); retrievable as needed with the help of cues.

Learning Theory: The SFP is a learning theory in that it embodies principles that guide the teacher or instructor to design a course or a lesson. The SFP focuses on individual learner's development. In developing a student to be a good citizen, all the courses should have meaning, value and career orientation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Agyeifosu

Assessment: The weight of assessing a student or students' work is on the learning exercise at the ratio of 75:25. The teacher ensures a student understands the learning process by helping him or her to heal the learning gaps. When learning tasks are corrected at the appropriate time, and students review them, it is considered learning has taken place. It is repetition of tasks that inculcate the materials on the minds of the students for them to remember.

Value: In the traditional teaching, most of the time, students learn without being told how they can apply the knowledge. At the elementary level, it is a stored knowledge, which is built upon. At the college or university level, students take courses to meet a program's requirements. In the SFP approach, the learner is informed about how knowledge can be applied in real life or in the learning process while stimulation is taking place. The idea behind this orientation is that a learner is motivated when the material has value and applicable.

Sequencing: One important aspect and a concept of most learning theories is sequencing. In the SFP approach, since the lesson is initially offered digitally, clarifying link(s) are used as learning exercises or activities that link prior/previous knowledge to new knowledge being learned. The activities are graduated from simple to complex tasks.

Learning Activities: In the SFP approach, all exercise is referred to as learning exercises or activities. Most activities done online, have built-in evaluative mechanisms.

Evaluation: Evaluation is accountability in the learning process. Most SFP learning exercises or activities have evaluative mechanisms interwoven into the learning process with instant feedback. It tends to motivate learners and allows them to track their progress.

Design and Development: The most difficult aspects of SFP lesson or course are the design, development and delivery. The topic(s) have to be researched as to skewing the contents of the lessons or a course toward(s) a career. The concept, design, development and delivery require that teachers and instructors should be trained adequately.

Published by Kwaku Agyei-Fosu