Humanism2

=Website Exemplifying Humanistic Instructional Features =

[|Humanism and Open Education]
 Human beings possess moral values and intentionality. Individuals never stop growing. Humanists are life-long learners. Humans act upon their personal values and do so meaningfully. Certain characteristics are believed to be possessed in humans. These are self-direction, independence, responsibility, creativity, curiosity, and an interest in the arts. These characteristics are incorporated into Open Education, which is a way of implementing Humanistic views into education.

__Implementing Open Education__- Open education gives students as much freedom as possible. Students are given many choices when completing tasks. Teachers act as facilitators allowing students to set their own realistic learning goals. Social and affective skills are developed through collaborative learning. Students are encouraged to step up and take leading roles, which means sometimes acting as a facilitator in cooperative settings. Facilitators are open about their personal learning, mistakes, and growth. Facilitators serve as positive role models and influences on their students.

__Facilitative Teaching in Open Education__- Successful facilitative teachers posses skills that create independent learners. When students have emotional issues, facilitators respond to those needs with support. Student ideas are incorporated into lessons and activities. Ongoing dialogue and connections are maintained with students. Facilitators offer praise when students show signs of independence in their learning. Content is based on the needs of the students and their personal learning journey.

__Basic Principles of the Humanistic Approach__- 1. Students will learn best what they want and need to know. -When students develop analyzing skills and learn how to use them, they take control of their learning by sorting through what they want and need to learn. 2. Knowing how to learn is better than acquiring a lot of knowledge. -Once students know how to learn, they can pick and choose what to learn to satisfy their needs or to meet their personal satisfactions. Knowing what you need to learn can do more good than acquiring a lot of useless information. 3. Self-evaluation is the only meaningful evaluation of a student’s work. -Internal development and self-regulation is key to independence. Having these skills allows students to evaluate their own work critically. 4. Feelings are as important as facts. -Feelings are important in creativity and independent thinking, which are encouraged in a humanistic environment. 5. Students learn best in a non-threatening environment. -Humanists believe in meeting the basic needs of students first to create the best learning environment. Making sure students have food, shelter, clothing, etc. is just as essential as the knowledge being taught.