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LEARNED-CENTEREDNESS
What does it mean in Higher
Education
Antonio Monteiro dos Santos, Ph.D.
Clinical, Coaching & Consulting Psychology. Training and
Consultation with schools and organizations. Author of the
book: Miracle Moments and Co-Author with Dr. Villas-Boas
and Dr. Rogers of the book: When the heart Speaks.
E-mail: amdsantos54@hotmail.com
Learned-Centeredness
The Humanistic roots
• Eastern and Western Philosophy and Psychology
• Philosophy and Psychology of Hinduism and
Buddhism – The Importance of the Self in
Hinduism and No self in Buddhism as the
essence of being
• Learning is the way to discover one‟s own
essence and realizing the power of the mind
• Socrates and Plato – the importance of wisdom
versus intelligence – The battle with sophists.
Learned-Centeredness
The Humanistic roots
• Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche dawn of
existentialism – finding the true meaning of being human
• Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) – Phenomenology – study
of the phenomena
• Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), German Philosopher –
the discovery of one‟s wholeness
• The French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-
1961) Individuals cannot be understood apart from their
context.
• Martin Buber(1878-1965) I and Thou relationship
Learned-Centeredness
The Humanistic roots
• Birth of Humanistic Psychology
• The humanistic movement in psychology
has emphasized the search for a
philosophical and scientific understanding
of human existence that does justice to
the highest reaches of human
achievement and potential. (Moss, 2008)
(http://www.aapb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageID=3662)
Learned-Centeredness
The Humanistic roots
• Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)– psychology of
the whole person – study of fully functioning
creative individuals
• Carl Rogers (1902-1987) – the human being is
basically good and goodness can be uncovered
• The whole person (cognition, emotions, beliefs,
attitudes, etc) has to be considered in all
activities including learning
Theories of Learning
• D. Ausubel – Meaningful Learning –
Subsumption theory – primary process
new material related to pre-existing ideas
in the cognitive structure
• Bandura – importance of observing and
modeling behaviors, attitudes and
emotional reactions of others
• Behaviorism – Watson and Skinner –
behavior is basis for learning
Theories of Learning
• Constructivist theory – J Bruner - learning is an
active process in which learners construct new
ideas or concepts based upon their current/past
knowledge.
(http://tip.psychology.org/bruner.html)
• Other constructivists Piaget and Vygotsky
• The Cognitive Information Processing theories -
memory and processing of information –
computer metaphor – bits and bites
Theories of Learning and Learning
Centered theory
• Interface between the different theories of
learning and Learning Centered Theory
• Basic difference between Learning
Centered theory and Behavioral theories
of learning
• How knowledge can be integrated from
different theories with Learning Centered
and its implication for practical application
The Learner Centered Theory and
Approach to learning
• “The educational system is probably the
most influential of all institutions-
outranking the family, the church, the
police, and the government-in shaping the
interpersonal politics of the growing
person.”
Carl Rogers (1977- Carl Rogers on Personal Power, p. 69)
Carl R. Rogers, Ph.D.
• Who he was?
• The Man and my
personal knowledge
• A Psychologist, a
Professor and a
Behavioral Scientist
• La Jolla and my
relationship with
Rogers
Philosophy of PCA
• A philosophy of life
- The individual is inherently good
- Non judgment as the source of inner
wisdom
- Given the proper conditions everyone
independent of race, color, nationality,
disability and so on can grow, develop,
and realize their full potential
The Philosophy of PCA
• Self Realization:
A self realized individual is guided by his
inner real self instead of simple following
the society standards
The Philosophy of PCA
• Self Realization:
- The process of becoming the best that
you can be.
- Achieving one’s full potential
- To grow, to learn, to develop, and to
mature
- One lives more in accordance with
his inner self
The Philosophy of PCA
• Every living system attempts every
moment to recover its path toward growth
and maturing
• Mistakes are the ways living systems try to
correct themselves – They are an
opportunity for learning and not an
opportunity for punishment
The Philosophy of PCA
• The Actualizing Tendency:
• - Everyone has within themselves the power
to grow, to develop, and to become the best
that they can be. (Rogers, 1902-1987)
• - There is a movement within everyone that
never stops toward maturing and more
complexity and it does not matter one‟s
condition in life. (Rogers, 1902-1987)
The Actualizing Tendency
• The substratum of all human motivation is the
organismic tendency toward fulfillment (Rogers,
1977, p. 242)
• …there is one central source of energy in the
human organism; that it is a trustworthy
function of the whole organism rather than of
some portion of it; and that it is perhaps best
conceptualized as a tendency toward fulfillment,
toward actualization, not only toward
maintenance but also toward enhancement of
the organism. (Rogers, 1977, p. 242-243)
The Learning Centered Theory to
Learning
• All human beings have a natural desire to learn
(Rogers, 1902-1987)
• Learning takes place best when there is
facilitative climate in the classroom because
there is trust, high self-esteem, better
communication, more relaxed environment
• “…the goal of education, if we are to survive, is
the facilitation of change and learning”. (Rogers,
1994, p. 152) Instead of simply giving
information.
The Politics of Education
• Traditional Mode:
– The teacher is the possessor of knowledge,
the student the expected recipient
– The lecture, the textbook, …other means of
verbal instruction are the major method of
getting knowledge into the recipient
– The teacher is the possessor of power, the
student the one who obeys
The Politics of Education
• Traditional Mode:
– Rule by authority is the accepted policy in the
classroom
– Trust is at a minimum
– The subjects (students) are best governed by being
kept in an intermittent or constant state of fear
– Democracy and its values are ignored and scorned in
practice
– There is no place for the whole person in the
educational systems only a place for her intellect.
(Rogers, 1994, p. 210-211)
The Politics of Education
• The Learned Centered Mode:
• The precondition:
A leader or a person who is perceived as an
authority figure in the situation is sufficiently
secure within herself and in relationships with
others to experience an essential trust in the
capacity of others to think for themselves, to
learn for themselves. She regards human beings
as trustworthy organisms. (Rogers, 1994, p.
212)
The Politics of Education
• The learned Centered Mode:
– Facilitative leadership has a ripple effect
– The facilitative teacher shares with others the
responsibility for the learning process
– The facilitator provides learning resources from within
herself and her own experience and from books,
materials, or community experiences
– The student develops his or her own program of
learning, alone or in cooperation with others.
The Politics of Education
• The learned Centered Mode:
– The facilitator focuses on fostering the continuing
process of learning
– A student reaches personal goals through self-
discipline
– A student evaluates her own learning
– In this growth-promoting climate, the learning tends
to be deeper, proceeds at a more rapid rate, and is
more pervasive in the life and behavior of the student
than is learning acquired in the traditional classroom.
The power balance within the
classroom
• Power is the ability of a person to control
or influence the choices of other persons.
The term authority is often used for power
perceived as legitimate by the social
structure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(sociology)
Inner Power
• No connection to externals
• Ability to feel Inner peace, happiness and
joy with no external connections
• Ability of individual to be productive
instead of reactive, peaceful, caring,
resilient, inner strength, kind, and loving.
Power
• Legitimate Power
– Power relative to position and duties in a formal organization
– Referent Power
– Abiltiy to attract others and build loyalty – carisma and interpersonal
skills.
– , soldiers fight in wars to defend the honor of the country. This is the
second least obvious power, but the most effective.
• Expert Power
– Skills and expertise
• Information Power
– Person well informed, up-to-date and ability to persuade others.
• Reward Power
– Capacity to give benefits, time off, desired gifts, promotions or increase
in pay and responsibility. Coercive Power
– Coercive Power means the application of negative influences onto
employees. Fear and obedience.
Does Freedom really exists?
• Richard Lovelace's poem echoes this
experience:
– Stone walls do not a prison make
– Nor iron bars a cage
– Minds innocent and quiet take
– That for an hermitage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_%28philosophy%29
Does Freedom really exists?
• The protection of interpersonal freedom
can be the object of a social and political
investigation, while the metaphysical
foundation of inner freedom is a
philosophical and psychological question
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_%28philosophy%29)
• Sartre: Humans “are condemned to be
free”
• Inner Freedom versus external freedom
Freedom and Commitment
• If we see teaching as a facilitative process
in which the individual is valued, then the
words freedom and commitment take on
very vital meanings. (Rogers, 1994, p.
296)
• The free and self directed student is highly
commited.
Learning and Inner Freedom
• Learning as a way to inner freedom
• Henry Thoreau‟s life, Sir Thomas Moore,
Prime Minister of England, Gandhi, Carl
Rogers.
Practicing Learning Centered Approach
The Conditions for Learning
Learning-Centeredness
Student Professor
Student Student Student
Student
Professor Learning
(Person)
Student Student
Student Internet Library
Others
Learning Centered
Professor Centered
(Person)
Practicing Learned Centered Approach
The Conditions for Learning
• It requires the trust and knowledge that:
– Individuals have within themselves vast
resources for self-understanding and for
altering their self-concepts, basic attitudes,
and self-directed behavior; these resources
can be tapped if a definable climate of
facilitative psychological attitudes can be
provided. (Rogers, 1980)
Two Kinds of Learning
• Nonsense syllable type
– “Large portions of the curriculum are meaningless,” “has no
personal meaning” for the student, it involves the intellect only,
“it does not involve feelings or personal meanings.”
• Significant, meaningful, experiential learning type
– This kind of learning has personal meaning and practical
application to daily life, it involves thoughts and feelings, it
involves personal and self-initiated involvement, “there is a sense
of discovery, of reaching out, of grasping and comprehending
coming from within”, locus of evaluation resides within, and it
has meaning. (Rogers, 1994, p.36)
Arguments:
• EAEA (European Association for the Education of Adults):Key
qualifications according to Metz (2004):
There is a need for a new curriculum:
• „Traditionally, the curriculum consisted of three
elements: knowledge, skills, attitudes, which
tends to value knowledge above skills, and skills,
above attitudes. Experiences of life suggest other
priorities: positive attitudes are key to a
rewarding life and job, skills are also more
important than knowledge. These priorities
should be asserted in the development of a new
curriculum, which would raise the value of social
capital, civil society
and the role of non-formal learning.”
Significant, Meaningful, Experiential
learning
• “Significant learning combines
– the logical and the intuitive,
– the intellect and the feelings,
– the concept and the experience,
– the idea and the meaning.
• When we learn in that way, we are whole.”
(Rogers, 1983) S. 20.
Meaningful Learning
• Learning that makes a difference
- in our knowledge store
- in our perspective of the world
- in our skills – motor, cognitive,
relationships
• Learning that changes brain structure
• Learning that supports, enables growth
• Learning that change a person‟s life (Boettcher,
1997-207)
(http://www.designingforlearning.info/present/meaningful/sld006.htm)
The main ingredients for learning-
centeredness learning
• Realness in the Facilitator of learning –the
facilitator is genuine, transparent,
congruent
• Prizing, acceptance, trust - Unconditional
positive Regard
• Empathic understanding - Empathy
Rogers
The Ingredients
• Realness, openness, transparency:
– Rogers: congruence, authenticity of the
facilitator;
+
– Real problems, situated setting
– Open feedback,
– transparent reactions, multiple perspectives
– Realness of facilitator is contagious increased
realness of participants
Rogers
The Ingredients
• Acceptance, respect
– Rogers: acceptance of the whole person, his/her
the feelings, meanings, goals, potentials;
+
– Participation:
• in elaborating goals, choosing topics, suggesting
projects
• Self-initiated contributions are encouraged
– Trust in constructive team work,
where individuals complement one another
– Self-evaluation and peer comments
– Feeling respected nourishes respect for others
Rogers
The Ingredients
• Understanding, empathy
– Rogers: trying to understand deep meanings, feelings,
intentions, targets, constraints, strengths of others
+
– Reacting to/exploiting particualar situations for learning
– Exploiting given situations for optimal, situated course
design
– Balance between choices and curriculum requirements
– Giving students space & time to find their ways
– individual & group; active listening, co-create meaning
Rogers
The Ingredients
• Empathic Listening and Understanding:
• When the teacher has the ability to
understand the student‟s reactions from
the inside, has a sensitive awareness of
the way the process of education and
learning seems to the student, then again
the likelihood of significant learning is
increased. (Rogers, 1994, p. 157)
Learning Centered Theory and human
tendency towards entropy
• Constructive versus Destructive Learning:
• Constructive learning leads the individual
to fulfill its full potential of being creative,
happy and fulfilled
• Destructive learning leads to destructive
thinking, feelings and behaviors
• These main ingredients mentioned before
are essential for constructive learning to
take place
Teaching and Learning through
SCA/PCA
• In education, key issues have always been that
of deep and persistent learning that allows all
participants to develop or grow as whole
persons rather than just extend their knowledge
on some subject matter or practice. (Motchinig
& Santos, 2006)
• Learning takes place in two levels:
1 – Conscious level – Intellectual knowledge
2 – Unconscious level – emotional, experiential,
and feeling level.
Teaching and Learning through
Learning Centered Approach
• The basic hypothesis underlying Person-
Centered Teaching/Learning can be stated
as follows: Human beings are constructive
in nature and strive to actualize and
expand their experiencing organism to
fulfill their potential in full. (Motschnig &
Santos, 2006)
The Practical application of Three
Conditions by teachers
• These must be held and lived by
facilitators/teacher and communicated to the
learners such that they actually can perceive
them and experience them as part of the
teaching and learning relationship.
• This can hardly be achieved if an instructor looks
down on his students (Motschnig & Santos,
2006)
The wholeness of the teacher in
learner-centeredness education
• Remember that a conflicted teacher is a
poor teacher and a poor learner. His
lessons are confused and their transfer
value is limited by his confusion
(T.7.VIII.3:4-5)
The wholeness of the teacher in
learner-centeredness education
• The teacher is the facilitator of
learning and not a giver of
information
The wholeness of the teacher in
learner-centeredness education
• The importance of the teacher own growth and
development as a professional and as a person
• Wisdom versus Intelligence
• Know thyself – a Socratic maxim
• The Socratic and sophist school
The wholeness of the teacher in
learner-centeredness education
• In learned centered education the teacher
strives to:
1. setting a positive climate for learning
2. clarifying the purposes of the learner(s)
3. organizing and making available learning
resources
4. balancing intellectual and emotional
components of learning and
5. sharing feelings and thoughts with learners
but not dominating.
(http://adulted.about.com/cs/adultlearningthe/a/carl_rogers.htm)
The wholeness of the teacher in
learner-centeredness education
• Effective teachers has to:
– To be active listener
– To provide encouragement and motivation
– To be kind and fair
– To be patient
– To listen when no oneself would
The Wholeness of the Student in
learner-centeredness education
1. Significant learning takes place when the subject
matter is relevant to the personal interests of the
student.
2. Learning which is threatening to the self (e.g., new
attitudes or perspectives) are more easily assimilated
when external threats are at a minimum.
3. Learning proceeds faster when the threat to the self is
low.
4. Self-initiated learning is the most lasting and
pervasive.
(http://adulted.about.com/cs/adultlearningthe/a/carl_rogers.htm)
The Wholeness of the Student in
learner-centeredness education
• The student learns best when:
– He or she is motivated for learning
– She or he is interested in learning
– He or she is present within the classroom not
only in body but also in mind
– She or he is an active listener
– He or she is kind and fair
Key aspects of Learning
• Returning to the Master/Apprentice
paradigm
• Socrates and His Students
• Jesus and his disciples
• The Buddha and his followers
The importance of Learned
Centered Learning in Higher
Education
• Fostering:
• critical thinking, creativity, indenpedence
• Self organized and self management
• Ability to be sensitive, holding constructs
flexibility, being responsible and mature
and able to handle difficult situations in a
mature way
Miracle Moments
• Gedeon‟s story
• One of the goals of the Learning Centered
Learning is to create such moments
• The moments of Oneness
• The conditions for learning are working at
its best
Does Love has a Place within the
classroom?
• The misunderstood word
• The happiness to be with the other
• The need to have nothing
• The one who gives without expecting
nothing is the one who wins the most the
one who gives expecting everything is the
one who loses the most (The Gita)
The Big Aim of Learned Centered
Education
• The Fully Functioning Person – Tendency
Towards:
• Non defensive openeness in all interpersonal
relationships
• Exploration of the self and development of the
richness of total, individual, responsible human,
soma-mind and body
• Prizing for individuals for what they are,
regardless of sex, race, status or material
possessions
Fully Functioning Person
• Close, respectful, balanced, reciprocal
relationship to the natural world
• Perception of material goods as rewarding
only when they enhance the quality of
personal living
• Even distribution of material goods
• Society with minimal structure-human
needs taking priority over needs for
structure
Fully Functioning Person
• Human-sized groupings in our
communities, our educational facilities, our
productive units
• Leadership as a temporary, shifting
function, based on competence for
meeting a specific social need
• More genuine and caring concern for
those who need help
Fully Functioning Person
• Human conception of science – in its
creative phase, the testing of its
hypotheses, the valuing of the humaness
of its applications
• Creativity of all sorts – thinking and
exploring –
Students„ Response to Teamwork and
Relationship
(Motschnig & Santos, 2006)
• One students’ response on why it was
easier to work in teams:
• “Open, respectful climate and surrounding.
Own opinions were received and respected,
general acceptance. One can express his
opinion without being afraid of any
consequences. Everybody is kind. Everybody
was prepared to collaborate actively and
motivated to contribute to the teamwork.”
Evaluation Results – ALL (1/4)
• ALL – Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey
The following four scales were derived from the ALL teamwork framework that was
designed to assess the core skills associated with teamwork (Baker et al., 2005).
Communication in teamwork
Attend to non-verbal behaviors 0,41
Openly share ideas 1,17
Acknowledge requests for information 0,94
Ask questions 1,11
Listen effectively 1,28
Provide clear and accurate information 0,72
Clarify or acknowledge the receipt of
information
1,00
Exchange clear and accurate
information
1,17
Figure 4: Students ratings on the effect of BP&OE on their Communicate with others effectively 1,11
communication in teamwork. Scales from -2.. ‘declined’ to
0.. ‘stayed the same’ to 2 .. ‘enhanced’, n=18, N = 20 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0
stayed the same enhanced
Evaluation Results – ALL
• ALL – Adult Literacy and Lifeskills(1/4)
Survey
The following four scales were derived from the ALL teamwork framework that was
designed to assess the core skills associated with teamwork (Baker et al., 2005).
Communication in teamwork
Attend to non-verbal behaviors 0,41
Openly share ideas 1,17
Acknowledge requests for information 0,94
Ask questions 1,11
Listen effectively 1,28
Provide clear and accurate information 0,72
Clarify or acknowledge the receipt of
information
1,00
Exchange clear and accurate
information
1,17
Figure 4: Students ratings on the effect of BP&OE on their Communicate with others effectively 1,11
communication in teamwork. Scales from -2.. ‘declined’ to
0.. ‘stayed the same’ to 2 .. ‘enhanced’, n=18, N = 20 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0
stayed the same enhanced
Evaluation Results – ALL (3/4)
• ALL – Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey
Group decision making
• ALL – Adult Literacy
Set goals0,94
and Lifeskills Survey
Understand decisions 1,11
Evaluate the consequences 0,56
Select the best solution 0,72
Identify possible alternatives 0,94
Share information 0,89
Evaluate information 0,83
Gather information 0,72
Figure 6: Students ratings on the effect of
Identify problems 0,89 BP&OE on their abilities according to group
decision making. Scales from -2.. ‘declined’
0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 to 0.. ‘stayed the same’ to 2 .. ‘enhanced’,
stayed the same enhanced n=18, N = 20.
Evaluation Results – ALL (4/4)
• ALL – Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey
Adaptibility/Flexibility
Monitor/Adjust performance 1,06
Provide/Accept feedback 1,33
Reallocate tasks 0,67
Provide assistance 0,83
Use compensatory behavior 0,61
Use information to adjust
strategies
0,72
Figure 7: Students ratings on the effect of BP&OE on their
adaptibility/flexibility. Scales from -2.. ‘declined’ to 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0
0.. ‘stayed the same’ to 2 .. ‘enhanced’, n=18, N = 20. stayed the same enhanced
GPO&OD 1 2 3 4 5
Other courses
3,28
1. Materials and literature references 3,55
3,17
2. Materials collected by myself 3,87
Evaluation 3. Practical exercises during the lab hours
4. Active participation during the course
4,06
3,82
3,94
Results -
3,49
5. Co-operation with peers 4,28
4,16
6. Exchange and discussion with colleagues 4,47
Benefits to find out
4,05
4,28
7. Exchange and discussion with instructor 3,59
4,22
We were interested 8. Interpersonal relationships within the team 3,97
3,67
from which aspects of the course 9. Factual knowledge 3,87
10. Acquired practical knowledge 3,78
4,08
students benefited most. 11. Acquired orientation within the subject 3,67
area 3,63
3,78
12. Presentation of themes 3,43
3,22
The top five features: 13. Enhanced personal time management 3,33
Exchange and discussion with colleagues (4.47) 14. Possibility to bring in my personal 4,00
interests 3,24
Cooperation with peers (4.28) 15. Support by a Web-based learning 3,89
platform 3,56
Exchange and discussion with the instructor (4.28) .61 Possibility to contribute in a self-initiated
4,00
Interpersonal relationships within the team (4.22) way 3,43
3,67
Practical exercises during the lab hours (4.06) 17. Acquired problem-solving competence 3,57
18. Contributions of colleagues 4,00
3,47
19. Decisions and leadership of the 3,83
Figure 8: Students ratings on profitable aspects in instructor 3,41
BP&OE when compared with other courses in their 20. Solving different kinds of conflicts 3,56
3,49
studies. Scales from 1.. ‘not at all’ to 5 .. ‘very much’; 21. Acquired skills of abstracting complex 3,22
3,43
n = 18, N = 20 and n ≈ 205 (other courses). problems
22. Considering tasks from different points of 3,94
view 3,78
23. Considering situations from different 3,94
points of view 3,41
got worse got better
-5,00 -4,00 -3,00 -2,00 -1,00 0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00
Evaluation Results – 1. Climate of respect/caring/trust
0 2,06 [4]
Community
2. Attentive listening to others
[0] 2,19 [4]
3. Tolerance for ambiguity and conflict
3
Questionnaire
0 1,63
4. Sharing and surviving personal problems and
crises 3
0 1,06
5. Sharing of common purposes
In order to find out whether the course [0] 1,75 [4]
6. Experiencing being heard
resulted in any perceivable effect on 1 2,25 [4]
7. Expressing and tolerating sharp differences
the building of a learning community 0 1,50 3
8. Shared initiative/leadership and responsibility
among students, we adopted a 0 1,81 4
9. Communicating owned feelings and meanings
community questionnaire that was 0 1,56 [4]
10. Experience of connectedness and community
developed by Godfrey Barrett- 0 2,13 [4]
11. Having the ability/power to achieve common
Lennard in the course of a Person goals
0 1,94 3
12. Having direct concern for the group process
Centered Workshop. 0 1,88 4
13. The group is perceived as a whole rather than
the sum of its parts
0 2,06 [4]
14. Discovery and use of member resources
0 1,44 [4]
min. value max. value
Figure 9: Community questionnaire according to Barrett-Lennard (2003).
Scales from -4 .. ‘got worse’ to +4 .. ‘got better’; the minimum, mean and maximum rating
by students is indicated and put in brackets if nominated only by one single person;
n = 16, N = 20.
Final Comments
• How Learning Centered Learning can be
applied to teaching any subject
• The importance of Learning Centered
Learning in the context of the world today
