Learner-centeredness: An issue of institutional policy in the context of distance education

The new concept of learner-centredness has evolved as a contemporary counter to the traditional teacher-centred approach to education which has been authoritative in nature. There is now a shift in focus to the learner which in part has grown out of our dissatisfaction with traditional approaches that are based on the notion of giving/transmitting a predetermined body of knowledge to the learner who is treated as an object. The shift reflects a desire to explore ways of making teaching responsive to learner needs & interests and allowing learners to play a fuller, more active and participatory role in the day-to-day teaching/learning processes. This inclination towards a more learner-centred approach to teaching/learning is not the outcome of a single structured school of thought. Educators and technical psychologists have focused on the learner and the learning processes from different perspectives. Learner-centred approach to teaching/learning can be said to be an outcome of an integration of overlapping and sometimes different perspectives on teaching/ learning