The Learning Model was created to help faculty deepen learning experiences for their students. Hundreds of faculty members across campus are using the Learning Model in a structured way to reflect on their own instruction, deepen student engagement, and learn from others. As we discuss these faculty insights, we also hear a recurring set of misconceptions that can in many ways limit some of the benefits of applying the Learning Model. We consider ten of these misconceptions below:

1. The Learning Model is an end unto itself. Many individuals mistakenly assume that the attention given to the Learning Model implies that the model itself is somehow more important than its underlying purpose. By analogy, “The instructor was not made for the Learning Model, but the Learning Model was made for the instructor”. The Learning Model was created to support faculty efforts to deepen the student learning experience at BYU-Idaho. It creates a common language and a community of practice, but the intent is to promote inspired learning and teaching across campus.
   
   
2. The Learning Model is proprietary to BYU-Idaho. The Learning Model is based on true principles that are manifest in many different settings, ranging from research in educational theory to teaching gospel truths. For example, the principles of individual responsibility and the process of Teach One Another are supported by educational research and constructivist learning theory. A diverse set of research studies show that when learners build their own knowledge structures, they improve their retention, assimilation, and application of knowledge. Modern apostles have also encouraged these ideas in their own teaching. For example, Elder Richard G. Scott taught, “Never, and I mean never, give a lecture where there is no student participation. A ‘talking head’ is the weakest form of classroom instruction.” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland focused on helping the learner take responsibility for learning in a 2007 Worldwide Leadership Conference on Learning and Teaching. Moreover, we can find the principles of the Learning Model reflected in Church training materials such as Teaching, No Greater Call and Preach My Gospel. For example, Preach My Gospel includes the following instruction: “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” (p. 17).
   
   
3. The Learning Model implies a single pedagogy. President Clark has taught, “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 Clark does not mention, nor imply a single pedagogy. The common framework of Prepare, Teach One Another, and Ponder/Prove encourages a range of teaching strategies [Integrating Teaching Strategies with the Learning Model]: including experiential learning, problem-centered instruction (concept tests, case studies, etc.), group projects, peer evaluation, discussion-based instruction, and other teaching strategies. Teaching in music will likely continue to draw on different pedagogical roots than teaching in physics or nursing or history. And yet, students will recognize a common approach to learning across each of these disciplines that share elements of Prepare, Teach One Another, and Ponder/Prove.
   
   
4. Teach One Another implies a reduced role for the faculty. Elder Richard G. Scott addressed this in a 2006 all-employee meeting at BYU-Idaho where he reminded us that Teach One Another actually elevates the role of >faculty. Elder Bednar similarly taught that teachers should be the architects of learning environments. Providing experiences for students to teach one another does not minimize the role of faculty, but elevates it beyond traditional lecture and explanation, to include the design, selection, and management of learning experiences that more deeply engage student involvement and responsibility.
   
   
5. Teach One Another leads to “students swapping ignorance”. When asked this same question at an all-employee meeting, Elder Richard G. Scott encouraged faculty not to discount the power and potential of students who are given responsibility for their learning. Moreover, there are some elements of student discovery that actually aid the learning process itself. In a 1996 study on Peer Instruction, Eric Mazur observed: “Students who understand the concept when the question is posed have only recently mastered the idea and are still aware of the difficulties involved in grasping the concept. Consequently, they know precisely what to emphasize.” Still it is important to remember that the role of the faculty [The Role of the Instructor] should be focused on designing ways to minimize the risks of misinformation. This includes the selection of appropriate Teach One Another activities, rubrics that guide response, and the timing and management of faculty intervention.
   
   
6. The Learning Model implies that how I taught before was ‘wrong’. Inspired learning and teaching has been a focus of BYU-Idaho and Ricks College for a long time. One of the hallmarks of this institution is the commitment of faculty to student learning and the focus on the individual. The Learning Model encourages continued progress and development, not a de novo restart. Many of our instructors have encouraged student preparation, engagement, and reflection for a long time. The Learning Model offers a structured way to review a course or teaching strategy by providing a shared frame of reference to guide improvement. It also provides a language system that allows the inclusion of other colleagues in the process of review, observation, and shared insight.
   
   
7. The Learning Model won’t work for ‘shy’ students. The creation of an effective participatory environment [Creating a Participatory Environment] requires the engagement of all students. Concern for students who are naturally shy or reluctant to comment is real. However, there are many ways to involve the shy student [Including Reluctant Students]. Invite participation and create a safe learning environment. Some of this responsibility rests with the faculty to find ways to encourage involvement that are non-threatening. Some of this responsibility rests with the student’s peers to “love, teach, and serve one another” and some rests with the individual participant. Note also: Teach One Another is not limited to student comments in large group settings. Teach One Another happens in online discussion boards, paired learning teams, small group interaction, and many other settings. Find ways to balance Teach One Another activities to include multiple forms of engagement.
   
   
8. My teaching evaluation will go down because of the Learning Model. This concern is sometimes associated with the learning curve of doing something new. Other faculty members feel that students will be impatient because they have been conditioned to receive “the answer” from the teacher in other learning environments. We recognize these challenges. A new student evaluation form is being developed that will better reflect the Learning Model. Foundations will have a tremendous impact as students learn more about the Learning Model through practice and application. However, as faculty progress in their own efforts around the Learning Model, many are finding steady improvement in student evaluations. In fact, students who experience the Learning Model in action and have been taught its purpose [Teaching Your Class about the Learning Model], report frustration when they are not engaged, held responsible, or have opportunities to teach what they are learning.
   
   
9. The Learning Model is a short-term program. Actually, the university is only just beginning to deepen learning experiences using the Learning Model as a framework and guide. The Learning Model shapes the architecture of the BYU-Idaho Learning and Teaching website, it is part of every Foundations course, it is being taught during New Faculty Training, and will provide the framework for the growth of online courses. The Learning Model will become part of the very identity of the university’s efforts to develop inspired learning and teaching experiences on this campus.
   
   
10. The Academic Office has the responsibility to lead all Learning Model efforts. We are already seeing the inspired efforts of hundreds of faculty who are applying the Learning Model to deepen learning experiences at BYU-Idaho. The Faculty Development Committee, under the direction of Steve Hunsaker, has developed a series of brown-bag lunches on the Learning Model. Anne Marie Harris, president of the Faculty Association, has worked to apply these ideas at the faculty Spori Summit. Other efforts are happening in more distributed ways. Learning communities and Foundations teaching groups will launch this fall. Both allow individuals to share and learn from their peers in the context of classroom instruction. Most importantly, instructors across campus are seeking ways to assume individual responsibility and seek personal inspiration in their own instruction and course work.

We believe the Learning Model provides a framework for continued improvement in our collective efforts to teach and learn from each other. Thank you for all you do to invest in the university and student learning.