7 Principles Of Teaching And Learning

[Prospero Barela]

Tounderstand the world in which we live, there are certain things we all must learn. Each school subject is made up of a core of essential knowledge that is deep, rich, and vital. Every student, regardless of age or ability, must be taught this essential knowledge. What students learn is fundamentally connected to how they learn, and successful instruction blends the content of a discipline with processes of an engaging learning environment that changes to meet the dynamic needs of all students.

Corresponding research brief

Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. Purposeful assessment practices help teachers and students understand where they have been, where they are, and where they might go next. No one assessment can provide sufficient information to plan teaching and learning. Using different types of assessments as part of instruction results in useful information about student understanding and progress. Educators should use this information to guide their own practice and in partnership with students and their families to reflect on learning and set future goals.

Corresponding research brief

Teaching and learning are both collaborative processes. Collaboration benefits teaching and learning when it occurs on several levels: when students, teachers, family members, and the community collectively prioritize education and engage in activities that support local schools, educators, and students; when educators collaborate with their colleagues to support innovative classroom practices and set high expectations for themselves and their students; and when students are given opportunities to work together toward academic goals in ways that enhance learning.

Corresponding research brief

Meaningful learning happens in environments where creativity, awareness, inquiry, and critical thinking are part of instruction. Responsive learning environments adapt to the individual needs of each student and encourage learning by promoting collaboration rather than isolation of learners. Learning environments, whether classrooms, schools, or other systems, should be structured to promote engaged teaching and learning.

Corresponding research brief

The following principles are drawn from How Learning Works, a compendium of current, well-supported research on what we know about learning. These principles are applicable across all disciplines and learning contexts, and are intended to illuminate why certain approaches to teaching support student learning.

Responsive learning cycles are comprised of quality, human-centered, goal-driven processes, practices, and tools that fuel agency and success for all students. These cycles can and should be used to inform big-picture issues, such as district, school, and classroom assessment ecosystems, as well as day-to-day practices, including teacher and student learning routines.

The questions and answers here are not new; they build on long-established assessment literacy and formative assessment scholarship. Working with them in the larger context of assessment empowerment and all its principles, however, helps us ensure those human-centered components and assessment purposes and practices I mentioned earlier are woven together as one, not handled separately or in opposition. When we lack cohesion, the hard work of day-to-day learning routines can become undone with a cluster of unaligned activities, disconnected summative events, or contradictory grading habits. We can save time and energy as well as increase learning success, well-being, and self-efficacy if we use responsive teaching and learning cycles.

Teaching is a complex, multifaceted activity, often requiring us as instructors to juggle multiple tasks and goals simultaneously and flexibly. The following small but powerful set of principles can make teaching both more effective and more efficient, by helping us create the conditions that support student learning and minimize the need for revising materials, content, and policies. While implementing these principles requires a commitment in time and effort, it often saves time and energy later on.

Taking the time to do this upfront saves time in the end and leads to a better course. Teaching is more effective and student learning is enhanced when (a) we, as instructors, articulate a clear set of learning objectives (i.e., the knowledge and skills that we expect students to demonstrate by the end of a course); (b) the instructional activities (e.g., case studies, labs, discussions, readings) support these learning objectives by providing goal-oriented practice; and (c) the assessments (e.g., tests, papers, problem sets, performances) provide opportunities for students to demonstrate and practice the knowledge and skills articulated in the objectives, and for instructors to offer targeted feedback that can guide further learning.

The practice principles articulate how teachers can deliver the curriculum and engage students. They are designed to link directly to a school's documented teaching program, which outlines what is to be taught, and the approach to assessment, which helps teachers determine student needs and how students can demonstrate their levels of understanding.

Each of the Principles is supported by a theory of action that describes how the work of teachers can generate improved student learning over time. It explains the specific changes that can be expected and creates a brief evidence-based synopsis.

Further information and resources to support your practice and implementation of the Victorian teaching and learning model are available through the VTLM page on FUSE where you will find case studies, online professional learning modules and the HITS Catalogue.

Diagnostic tools are available to support teachers and school leaders to reflect on the practice principles and engage in collaborative practice development, both for guided whole-school reflection and guided teacher reflection.

Teachers working in the early years of primary school can also refer to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF) Practice Principles, bringing coherence to our education system and ensuring continuity of learning across education settings and developmental stages.

The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

The Guide for Inclusive Teaching at Columbia helps instructors answer that question by offering five inclusive teaching principles derived from research and evidence-based practices. In addition, the guide contains practical, accessible, and usable strategies that instructors can use immediately. We invite you to contact the CTL with questions, suggestions, or ideas for collaborating with us on this initiative at colum...@columbia.edu.

The Guide for Inclusive Teaching at Columbia by Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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A trauma-informed approach to college teaching and learning refers to adopting a set of trauma-informed principles to inform educational policies and procedures. The principles must be specific enough to provide a useful framework but general enough to be adapted for and operationalized within a variety of settings.

The original trauma-informed principles (safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment) were developed by Roger Fallot and Maxine Harris, the pioneers of trauma-informed care. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), home of the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care (NCTIC), adapted the principles and added a sixth (cultural, historical, and gender issues).

A pdf version of Examples of TITL Principles in College Classrooms that I have customized for classroom use is also also linked here. This version provides examples of what each principle might look like in seated or virtual course settings.

The Principles of Teaching, Learning and Assessment focus on the provision of a school and class environment that is intellectually, socially and physically supportive of learning. The principles assist whole-school planning and individual classroom practice. It is essential, therefore, to ensure that there is a shared understanding of them within particular school communities and a collaborative effort to implement these principles in ways appropriate to individual schools.

Students should have the opportunity to engage fully with the concepts they are expected to develop; observe people engaged in the processes which they are to learn; and encounter examples of high-quality products of those processes, so they can see what it is they are aiming to achieve. For example, students are more likely to understand and make sense of mathematical, scientific or social science ideas if the information and experiences they engage with are inherently meaningful. They are more likely to write, perform or design well if they see the writing, performing or designing processes modelled and encounter examples of 'good' writing, 'good' performance or 'good' design. They are more likely to learn to respect and value the views of others if the school environment models such behaviours.

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