Learner-Centered Technology

Instructor Beliefs Self-Assessment*

What is "Learner-Centered"?

Instructor Beliefs Self-Assessment

Learner-Centered Assessment

After you have read each statement, select the extent to which you agree or disagree. The results will be most valuable and useful to you if you go with your initial judgment, without spending much time in considering any one statement, and if you respond truthfully, resisting the impulse to give what you think is the "right" answer. There are 35 statements in total.



#   Statement
1.  Students have more respect for instructors they see and can relate to as real people, not just as teachers.

2.  There are some students whose personal lives are so dysfunctional that they simply do not have the capability to learn.

3.  I can't allow myself to make mistakes with my students.

4.  Students achieve more in classes in which instructors encourage them to express their personal beliefs and feelings.

5.  Too many students expect to be coddled in school.

6.  If students are not doing well, they need to go back to the basics and do more drill and skill development.

7.  In order to maximize learning, I need to help students feel comfortable in discussing their feelings and beliefs.


8.  It's impossible to work with students who refuse to learn.

9.  No matter how bad an instructor feels, he or she has a responsibility not to let students know about those feelings.

10.  Addressing students' social, emotional, and physical needs is just as important to learning as meeting their intellectual needs.

11.  Even with feedback, some students just can't figure out their mistakes.

12.  My most important job as a professor is to help students meet well-established standards of what it takes to succeed.

13.  Taking the time to create caring relationships with my students is the most important element for student achievement.

14.  I can't help feeling upset and inadequate when dealing with difficult students.


15.  If I don't prompt and provide direction for student questions, students won't get the right answers.

16.  Helping students understand how their beliefs about themselves influence learning is as important as working on their academic skills.

17.  It's just too late to help some students.

18.  Knowing my subject matter really well is the most important contribution I can make to student learning.

19.  I can help students who are uninterested in learning get in touch with their natural motivation to learn.

20.  No matter what I do or how hard I try, there are some students who are unreachable.

21.  Knowledge of the subject area is the most important part of being an effective instructor.


22.  Students will be more motivated to learn if instructors get to know them at a personal level.

23.  Innate ability is fairly fixed and some students just can't learn as well as others.

24.  One of the most important things I can teach students is how to meet requirements and to do what is expected of them in the course.

25.  When instructors are relaxed and comfortable with themselves, they have access to a natural wisdom for dealing with even the most difficult classroom situations.

26.  Professors shouldn't be expected to work with students who consistently cause problems in the classroom.

27.  Good instructors always know more than their students.

28.  Being willing to share who I am as a person with my students facilitates learning more than being an authority figure.


29.  I know best what students need to know and what's important; students should take my word that something will be relevant to them.

30.  My acceptance of myself as a person is more central to my classroom effectiveness than the comprehensiveness of my teaching skills.

31.  For effective learning to occur, I need to be in control of the direction of learning.

32.  Accepting students where they are--no matter what their behavior and academic performance--makes them more receptive to learning.

33.  I am responsible for what students learn and how they learn it.

34.  Seeing things from the students' point of view is the key to their good performance in school.

35.  I believe that just listening to students in a caring way helps them solve their own problems.




*Adapted from the Teacher Beliefs Survey developed by Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL); also presented in McCombs, B. L. & Whisler, J. S. (1997) The Learner-Centered Classroom and School. Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787908363.



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©1998 Dr. Jody Paul  -  jody@acm.org