University Takes Student-Centered Learning to the Next Level

France’s Université Aprilvis I, known for its innovative and progressive approach to teaching, has announced plans to trial a new student-centered learning initiative this year. Dubbed Student-Centered Learning 2.0, the scheme is based on the now-familiar paradigm shift towards more active and autonomous learning styles currently in various stages of implementation across the global higher education community.

“We felt like this [student-centered learning] was something we’d made a priority for the past decade – we’ve introduced new training for all teaching staff, restructured the curricula across all our faculties, and completely changed the way we think and talk about teaching and learning,” says the university’s Vice President for Teaching and Learning, Clément Douteux. “The feedback from students and staff is now that we’re pretty much there.”

Student-Centered Learning 2.0

Not content to end its forward momentum, the university decided it was time to implement a second phase to its student-centered learning action plan, taking on a pioneering role in the development of the movement. “We’d essentially reached the end of the map,” Douteux says. “Student autonomy and responsibility, peer feedback, responsive curricula, students involved in quality assurance – it’s all in place and working well. But we knew there must be something more we could do.”

Following a consultation process involving board members, external consultants, teaching faculty and of course representatives of the student body, Douteux and his team drafted a series of proposals for the next trial stage. The first and perhaps most controversial of these involves taking a more literal interpretation of the term “student-centered learning” than has previously been seen.

Identifying learning “hotspots”

“We felt like students really were still more peripheral that we’d like to admit,” says Douteux, “And there was one obvious way to fix that.” A team of students and academics, led by members of the mathematics faculty, set about an in-depth assessment of the campus geography, measuring every distance they could think of – from lectern to bench, library shelf to reading desk, computer lab to dorm room.

Following a series of complex calculations, the team identified a series of learning “hotspots”, which they believe place the student as close to the center of the learning as possible. These have been marked on the ground with vibrant green arrows, and mapped to an online system which can be downloaded as a free app by all members of the university community.

“We’ll be tracking this over the next few months using a sample group of students from a cross-section of disciplines,” Douteux says. “It’s going to be tricky to measure the real impact, but already we’re getting positive comments from students.” He adds that there’s already been interest from a number of universities and student organizations both within France and beyond, who have expressed interest in launching their own Student-Centered Learning 2.0 initiatives.