What is Student-Centeredness

Walden University was founded as a for-profit, distance learning institution in 1970. Its mission was to serve the needs of mid-career professionals who were finding access to traditional higher education difficult. It was established on the learner-centered principles of progressive education: the learning should be relevant, individualized, mentor-supported rather than teacher-directed, and experience-based with a view to contributing to the common good. This historical overview traces how progressive education principles as practiced at Walden were impacted by the need to meet accreditation requirements and later an expanded market when corporate interests bought the university and advances in technology opened the way for online learning. With uncertainties about the future of online, for-profit institutions and of Walden in particular, the university may find guidance ahead in reinvigorating its original progressive vision.