Learner-Centered Design: Is Sage on the Stage Obsolete?

This quantitative research study examined one instructor’s redesign of her introductory Anthropology course (N = 265) from Teacher-Centered (TC) to Learning-Centered (LC) and the resulting impact on her students’ perceptions of Teaching Presence (TP), Social Presence-Interaction (SP-I), Social Presence- Participation (SP-P), Cognitive Presence (CP), and Satisfaction (SAT). Using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) survey (Swan, Richardson, Ice, Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, & Arbaugh, 2008) in a face-to-face classroom environment; results indicated that implementing a LC classroom compared to a TC classroom was found to have a significantly positive impact on students’ perceptions of TP (p = .021), SP-I (p < .001), SP-P (p < .001), CP (p = 002), and SAT (p = .022). Multiple regression results indicated that TP, SP-I-, and SP-P were able to predict 42% of students’ level of satisfaction score with TP having the highest level of prediction (β=.37). Preliminary evidence suggests that instructors who implement LC teaching methodologies can have a positive impact on TP, SP-I, SP-P, CP, and SAT.