Using a Learner-Centered Approach to Develop an Educational Technology Course

The article explores the structure of a graduate educational technology course that used a learner-centered approach to prepare students to be independent responsible learners. Key features of this approach were the balance of power between the instructor and students, involving students in decision-making about their learning, sharing the responsibility for learning between the instructor and students, and using students' needs and interests in the course content. The article describes how the decision-making power was shared between the instructor and students, as well as how students responded to the course structure. This work has implications for creating learner-centered environments in which power and responsibility are shared between instructor and students in all graduate education courses to nurture the development of responsible learners.