Fourteen learner-centered psychological principles were developed by The American Psychological Association (1993). These principles have extensive implications and considerable promise for the design of web-based instruction from a learner-centered angle. Based on the extensive research in the field of learning and development, studies address areas such as fostering curiosity and intrinsic motivation, thus, providing learners with choice and personal control, linking new information to old ones in meaningful ways, nurturing social interaction, promoting thinking and reasoning strategies, constructingmeaning from information and experience, while considering learners’ social and cultural background. These principles are necessary for a successful transformation from “Technology-Centric” to “Learner-Centric” paradigm. Such transformation requires designing a psychologically safe educational environment, electronic mentoring, facilitating learning, and other related tools and strategies.
Educational technologists and instructional designers are strongly advocating the critical need for shifting from instructor-centered to student-centered approaches. A learner-centered pedagogy centers around the notion that students must play an active role in the learning process: participating in determining what to learn, their learning preferences, and what is meaningful to them. The author strongly believes that one of the major benefits of the learner-centered “movement” is to make learning engaging for the learner.
As educators, we should take advantage of online tools in providing our students with opportunities to construct knowledge, actively share and seek information, generate a diverse array of ideas, appreciate multiple perspectives, take ownership in the learning process, engage in social interaction and dialogue, develop multiple modes of representation, and become more self-aware. The core point here is that technology- rich environments can support learner engagement in meaningful contexts, thus, increasing ownership over their own learning. For more information, guidance, and supporting research on learner-centered environments, the reader is referred to: (Hamalamen, 2011; Wolf et al. 2009; Oliver et al., 1999, Chung et.al.1998).
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