The Learning Model Resources

"Always come to class prepared to be taught and to teach. Always do the assigned reading or problems-before class. Think about what you have done and be ready to explain what you have learned and what you think."
God Hath Prepared a More Excellent Way, BYU-Idaho Devotional, 2006 

"The Learning Model entails the creation of a common framework for learning and teaching that extends across every discipline, course, and learning experience. All will be grounded in a shared approach."
President's Report

"To learn by faith, students need opportunities to take action. Some of those opportunities will come ... in the classroom, where prepared students, exercising faith, step out beyond the light they already possess, to speak, to contribute, and to teach one another."
BYU-Idaho Inaugural Response, 2005 

"Over time, it will become apparent that the most powerful way for students to learn is for them to teach–they will teach to learn."
Realizing the Mission, All Employee Meeting, 2007 

"They will be natural leaders who know how to teach and how to learn.  ...Those graduates of BYU-Idaho–and this is a prophecy that I am prepared to make and to make solemnly–those graduates of BYU-Idaho will become legendary for their capacity to build the people around them and to add value wherever they serve."
A Steady, Upward Course, BYU-Idaho Devotional, 2001 

"One thing is clear: what you have learned to date won't be sufficient for the future.  Your hope and mine is that you have learned how to learn.  That gift will turn out to be priceless."
Learning How to Learn, BYU-Idaho Devotional, 2003

"One of the most magnificent experiences [I had in school] was to be part of a study group which met every evening to review the case studies in preparation for being called on in class… I am so appreciative of the men I associated with in that study group and their willingness to share their intelligence and their background with one another. Once again, I urge you to think in terms of tutoring, mentoring, and being in study groups." 
BYU-Idaho Devotional, 2007 

"As learners, you and I are to act and be doers of the word and not simply hearers who are only acted upon. Are you and I agents who act and seek learning by faith, or are we waiting to be taught and acted upon? We are all to be anxiously engaged in asking, seeking, and knocking."
Seek Learning by Faith, Address to CES Educators, 2007

"Help the learner assume responsibility for learning."
Worldwide Leadership Training on Teaching and Learning, 2007

"Participation allows individuals to experience being led by the spirit. They learn to recognize what spiritual guidance is."
Help Others to be Spiritually Led, Address to CES Educators, 1998 

"Never, and I mean never, give a lecture where there is no student participation. A 'talking head' is the weakest form of class instruction." 
To Understand and to Live Truth,  Address to CES Educators, 2005

"Study is an act of faith requiring the use of personal agency. . .  While learning from a good teacher is very important, it is more important for you to have meaningful learning experiences on your own."
Preach My Gospel, p. 17 
  
"Knowing that individuals are responsible to learn the gospel, we may ask, What is the role of teachers? It is to help individuals take responsibility . . ."
Preach My Gospel, p. 61

President Clark has outlined five key elements that help students at BYU-Idaho progress toward becoming disciple leaders. One of the five elements is referred to as "Inspired Learning and Teaching." The Learning Model was created to reinforce efforts to create inspired learning and teaching experiences. In this way, the Learning Model supports the institutional mission of creating disciple leaders.

It is true that students are expected to teach what they are learning, but the role of the instructor remains central in the entire process. Your instructor will select specific learning activities and decide when to include each experience. The instructor also plays a role in directing and managing student discussion and participation. They will balance these collaborative efforts with their own instruction and explanation when needed.

An active instructor is often the best guard against this risk. Instructors will often provide student evaluation criteria, guides, and examples to use in considering the comments and explanations of other students. However, part of the intent of the Learning Model is that students listen to what others are saying and help teach their peers when they think the other is off-track. This collaborative process of mutual discovery will often lead to some of the most lasting and applicable learning experiences you will have.

President Kim B. Clark has taught that a student should spend two hours outside of class for every hour in class. This expectation is true with or without the Learning Model. So, the question might be better phrased, 'Will the Learning Model affect when I do my work?' The answer to that question is 'Yes, you will spend more time before class in preparation.' Your total workload will not increase, but you should replace last-minute cramming with powerful pre-class preparation. 

Students at BYU-Idaho "learn by faith" (D&C 88: 118). President Clark has taught: "To learn by faith, students need opportunities to take action. Some of those opportunities will come . . . in the classroom, where prepared students, exercising faith, step out beyond the light they already possess, to speak, to contribute, and to teach one another." If you are a shy student, there will be times when you have to exercise your faith to participate and comment in class. Also realize that a Learning Model environment is a safe and supportive setting, where students "love, teach, and serve one another." Moreover, Teach One Another activities do not all happen in large group settings. Many of these activities will occur in small discussion groups, paired teams, and online discussion formats. Make efforts to contribute in all of these Teach One Another settings.

Many instructors will explain how they are applying the Learning Model in a given course setting. This explanation may surface in classroom discussion or in the course syllabus itself. But you are responsible for your own learning, which means you have to take action to deepen your learning, regardless of the instruction you receive. Learn how to prepare before class, how to contribute by teaching others what you are learning, and how to ponder and prove your learning.