In order to find out how much students learn or grow on each of
the three levels in traditional and in person-centered courses we
applied the following procedure. In the beginning of several PCeL
courses students were asked to estimate how much they had
learned on each of the levels in previous, traditional courses. At
the end of each course which was conducted in a person-centered
way we asked students to estimate their learning on each of the
three levels in that particular course. A general response pattern
– across various courses – could be identified that students indicated
that they learned about equally at the level of intellect, but
significantly more at the level of skills and the level of attitudes.
One particular instance of these findings is depicted in Fig. 2
(Motschnig-Pitrik & Derntl, 2008). It shows how students of a
course on communication and soft skills and a course on personcentered
communication – both conducted in a person-centered
way – estimated their learning in traditional versus person-centered
courses. While students had learned significantly more on the
levels of skills and attitudes in the person-centered courses, their
learning on the level of intellect was about the same as in traditional
courses. These results confirm the findings that Cornelius-
White and Harbaugh (2010) and Cornelius-White and Motschnig
(2010) made in conducting a meta-study on learner-centered
education.