19^th International CODATA Conference
Category: e-Learning

How People Learn (HPL)

Quincy Obayuwana (qobayuwana@yahoo.com)
Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria

This seminar will provide an overveiw of the "How People Learn (HPL)" learning model and its operationalization within agricultural classes and provide an understanding about how the HPL learning theory can positively affect agricultural engineering education in the 21st century.

The HPL model says that learning can be enhanced if the environments are grounded in four basic principles. According to the model, an optimal learning environment is: (a) learner-centered if it takes into account the knowledge, skills, preconceptions, misconceptions, and learning styles of the students; (b) knowledge-centered if it promotes learning with understanding by organizing the knowledge around "key concepts" of the subject domain area and an understanding of the conditions under which it is applicable; (c) assessment-centered if it provides opportunities for students and faculty to obtain feedback on understanding so that it can be refined as needed; and (d) community-centered if it encourages both students and faculty to learn from one another.

The VaNTH Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Bioengineering Educational Technologies, sponsored by the National Science Foundation since 1999, has developed and implemented instructional materials in bioengineering based on the HPL learning theory. These materials are used within the bioengineering curricula at Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Texas, and Harvard/MIT (VaNTH). As a collaboration of education, technology, and bioengineering faculty and students at these Research I universities, the investigators within the VaNTH ERC have worked diligently to measure the effects of HPL upon student outcomes.