Application of Student-Centered Teaching Methods in the Classroom (A case of Higher Education Institutions in Georgia)

Abstract

Taking into account the changing demands and the objectives of education, higher education institutions are expected to create a student-centered classroom environment, which can facilitate the process of skills acquisition and enable students to deal with the changes and the needs of the modern working environment. There is a concern regarding the lack of explicit encouragement within higher education concerning the application of student-centered learning. Correspondingly, one of the objectives of this paper was to develop the indicators for the student-centered classroom environment evaluation. Besides, the study aimed to identify the perceptions of lecturers regarding application of student-centered teaching methods at higher education institutions in Georgia. Consequently, the current research presents the analysis of the study, which was designed based on a quantitative methodology. A questionnaire was made for lecturers aiming at identifying facilitating factors for creating a student-centered classroom environment in Georgian higher education. The results showed that student-centered methods are used to some extent, but it is not still the main priority for the higher education institutions in Georgia. It also revealed the perceptions and the barriers that may hinder the implementation of student-centered learning practices.