Revamping Teaching.... A Paradigm Shift towards Student-Centered Learning .....by (Dr. Ghazanfar Ali Khan …Faisalabad)

The revolutionary transitions in various spheres of life accentuated the significance of revamping the educational strategies to keep ourselves abreast of the changes for quality education. The real philosophy of teaching is linked with the success of students. The essence of teaching is related to the extent of learning on the part of students. The “student-centered learning” should be the main focus our teaching philosophy. It will be like ice breaker in the scenario of “Teacher centered learning. However, there appeared a number of clouds on the horizon when we talk about the paradigm shift towards student-centered learning. We should be skillful rather than blaming the tools. The true relation of teacher and taught is like counterpart. Both teacher and student can make the learning environment conducive for better learning as “Two heads are better than one”

Teacher should be a man of letter and learned person well equipped with motivational skills. Boosting up the morale of the students is the real magnificence of teaching. The teacher should feel the pulse of time and should be more resilient and adaptive to the evolving situations and challenges. The teacher’s role is as facilitator in the context of achieving the goals/aims of high value. In the classroom scenario, the teacher has the opportunity to consider himself/herself as learner. The reason is quite obvious “Learning is a continuous process” and “Sky is the limit”.

The true teacher can broaden his/her teaching spectrum for students’ better learning covering all the three domains of learning (cogitative, affective and psychomotor). In this way, the students will emerge as knowledgeable persons having positive attitude and furnished with required skills to handle the current and future glitches and anomalies in the way of progress. Sometimes, it appears as gigantic challenge to tackle with the emerging situations pertinent to the students. However, while applying new educational strategies, we should not be dejected and downhearted on the temporary failure because it is always the darkness before the dawn. Moreover, we have better option to realize the reality. We can focus on “quality” to get triumph over real dilemmas.

The students’ active participation is the prerequisite to uplift the students’ learning. Engaging the students in the learning process by preferring various participatory techniques/methods (like brainstorming, role playing, discussion, Jigsaw method, think-pair-share, demonstration etc.). The motivated and active students can contribute towards the actual learning. Outcome based learning can pave the way in the real life setting.

The strong relationship between mentor and mentees is of mutual respect and hard work. It is very much essential to guide the students regarding their research work/projects, issues and queries. It is indispensable notion to motivate the students for generating innovative ideas for their research work and advising them to work honestly with dedication and devotion. It can be linked with advising them to develop positive attitude and polishing analytical and synthesis spheres. The core of mentorship is to eliminate the fear factor among the students. They can be groomed by giving them freedom of expression, sharing ideas and breaking new grounds in their respective field.

In this era of cutting edge competition, the survival of the fittest appears more vivid. The students equipped with skills including communication skills can present themselves to the outside world with more confidence. So, infusing enthusiasm in the students should also be one of the priority to get the excellence with sincere and concerted efforts. The competent, dexterous, adroit and skillful students will be beneficial for the uplifting the society as rising tide lifts all boats

Expanding the scope of classroom learning to the real life experience is also necessary to cope with the evolving challenges of this era. The training of the students in such a manner that they can perform and reflect their excellent outcome in individually as well as in group form. Keeping the students abreast of the latest transitions is also the focus for the exploration of the new horizons of success and prosperity. In nutshell, the essential component of our teaching philosophy should be the success and excellence of the students in practical/real life.