CHALLENGING TRAJECTORY FROM TEACHER-CENTERED TEACHING TO STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING IN GLOBALISATION, ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT COURSES: CASES OF ALBANIA, CROATIA AND SERBIA

• Main Authors: Grabova, Perseta, Jurcic, Ana, Banovic, Ruzica Simic
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Case studies; Classrooms; Comparative studies; Core curriculum; Economic policy; Education; Educational objectives; Fish; Globalization; Higher education; Higher education institutions; Knowledge acquisition; Learning; Polls & surveys; Quality assurance; Simultaneous discrimination learning; Students; Teachers; Teaching methods; Training
• ISSN: 1849-6903; 1849-6903

Until recently, traditional teacher-centered (ex-cathedra) teaching methods have predominantly been used at all education levels in Southeast European countries. The implementation of Bologna process in the higher education system was expected to change the teaching methods and consequently, reinforce the interaction in the classroom that, according to numerous global surveys, leads to significantly better learning environment and learning outcomes. Innovative teaching methods serve not only to educate, but to inspire and motivate students to engage in learning. The roots of student-oriented approaches are aligned with the growing popularity of critical pedagogy and students' beliefs that they 'shouldn't be fed with a fish but taught how to fish'. In Europe, learner-centered education was fully taken into account at the Leuven Ministerial Conference in 2009, i.e. ten years after the Bologna Declaration that set the ground for the deep reforms of the European higher education. Despite the (nominal) implementation of the Bologna process in South-eastern Europe, it is rather obvious that both the methods and the results still lag behind Western European countries and US. This research is based on three case studies of the simultaneous implementation of student-centered learning in following courses: Globalization and Albania, a country in transition (taught in Albania), Economic policy (taught in Croatia), and Intercultural management (taught in Serbia). They were delivered after all three course instructors completed the training for conducting Student Centered Discussion Courses and implemented the methods. The training was guided by Interactivity Foundation in Washington, DC within the faculty development program. Following constructivist theories of learning, new teaching method was introduced in the existing courses where previously traditional methods were mostly used, i.e. students were expected to be passive learners and listeners, rather than active players. Developing positive classroom climate supposed to serve as a cohesion factor so that students understand the importance of becoming active participants in the teaching situation. In addition to the strengths and weaknesses observed both by teachers-facilitators and students (anonymous surveys were used), this comparative study presents the lessons learned in the teaching method transformation process. It also highlights the common denominators in all three countries that, despite the differences