Teacher-led strategies for maximizing learning outcomes in higher education / Estrategias dirigidas por el profesorado para maximizar los resultados de aprendizaje en Educación Superior

A number of challenges have arisen in educational policies for higher education (HE) contexts in the last decades, leading to a shift from teacher- to learner-oriented methodologies. However, there is a dearth of studies revising effective teacher-led strategies aimed at maximizing learning outcomes in HE, since learners may still need teachers’ support in organizing their acquisition process. Consequently, adopting this instructional perspective, this paper has examined how teachers’ methodology can be (re)designed to promote successful learning in HE by means of strategies aimed at scaffolding content, language, design of tasks and output. A systematic list of effective instructional strategies is developed in this paper, overlooking those techniques that, despite their frequent use, have not proved to be highly beneficial for promoting learning outcomes. When students become expert learners, a shift from instructional to discovery or learner-based methodologies may occur.