Learner-led approaches in higher education

The chapter elaborates on a specific socio-epistemic practice where students are co-designers of higher education teaching and learning. This practice (learner-led approaches or in short, LED) takes the changes in the 21st-century learning landscape into account and sets a frame for students and faculty to engage in curriculum development and practices as “equal” knowledge bearers, explorers, and experts. It builds on student motivation and experienced meaningfulness as a driving force, hence the term “learner-led”. LED approaches assume that most students possess the potential to design, and take part in, learning processes that are meaningful and relevant to them. The focus shifts from the teacher to the student as learner and to learning itself. Accordingly, the teacher’s role changes dramatically from being the single person in charge of teaching and the learning processes toward navigating unpredictable situations together with the students while sharing the responsibility with them.