Session One - Resistance

In session 1, I presented an overview of student and faculty resistance. I started with this topic because I thought it might be important for us to consider the obstacles we may encounter when changing to a learner-centered model before we begin making those changes.

Here is the presentation that I used in the session:



You can also access the presentation online at: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dc7d3btp_11dtjqwh73

Completing the reading in Chapter 7 of Weimer's book helped me to realize a few things that I feel are important to share with you.

First, and perhaps most important, is this quote from page 151: "The fear becomes a major anxiety for students who face learning tasks without confidence in themselves as learners." Realizing that our students don't know how to learn may help us to scaffold the process and be a bit more understanding of their concerns.

Second, if our students are complaining that our new methods require more work, we're probably doing it right. We should listen to their concerns and make sure they're getting out of the experienced what we intended them to, but we shouldn't back down simply because the students don't like to work hard.

Third, I feel strongly that open communication with our students about what we're doing and why we're doing it will reduce the level of resistance.

And, finally, as we talked about at the luncheon, perhaps the most important thing for us to remember professionally is that we need to document the impact of these new approaches. Compare the new sections to the old, keep copies of student work, solicit feedback from students, have the department chair or a student consultant come in and observe, etc.