Purpose – Teaching methods such as Flipped Learning and Team-Based Learning require students to pre-learn course materials before a teaching session, because classroom exercises rely on students using self-gained knowledge. This is the reverse to “traditional” teaching when course materials are presented during a lecture, and students are assessed on that material during another session at a later stage. The purpose of this paper is to describe an introductory class session that prepares and engages students to be successful participants in courses requiring pre-learning. Design/methodology/approach – A sequence of seven learning activities drawn from the education literature was implemented in an introductory undergraduate entrepreneurship class. These activities were evaluated using exploratory qualitative research. Findings – Student evaluations of the learning activities showed that they readily identified important aspects of learning, critical factors related to student success, and the learning purposes of the introductory session. Practical implications – The sequence of seven activities develops a positive learning culture where students understand their obligations regarding pre-learning, and are prepared for active engagement in the course. These also give the educator valuable information for understanding the learning motivations, expectations, and perceptions of student learners, that allows teaching approaches to be tailored to the needs of that class. Originality/value – The sequence of learning activities is novel and gives both students and educators insights into learning processes required for effective pre-learning for active engagement in student-centred classes. This approach can be applied in different fields of higher education.

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China’s National English Curriculum Standard, launched in 2001, clearly reflects a philosophy and characteristics of learner-centeredness. However, limited evidence is available as to how far the learner-centred philosophy has, through interacting with the local contexts, influenced teachers’ beliefs, which will translate into a core philosophy and culture affecting teacher behaviours and practices at the school and classroom levels. Drawing on semi-structured interview data of a larger project, this study reports on three secondary school teachers’ overall educational beliefs regarding English teaching, the alignment of their beliefs with learner-centredness and factors influencing their beliefs. The analysis uncovers a wide range of English-teaching related beliefs that positions the three teachers variously on a learner-centred continuum. It also unveils the possible factors that influence teacher beliefs and mediate teachers’ application of beliefs. Factors influencing teachers’ beliefs range from schooling to significant others. Teachers’ reflectiveness is identified as an important influence of teachers’ beliefs and uptake of the curriculum reform. Teachers’ perceptions and responses to a range of contextual factors mediate the application of their beliefs. This study sheds light on the current status of curriculum reform and the uptake of the learner-centred philosophy by teachers.

This chapter presents team‐based learning (TBL) as a teaching strategy to support self‐regulated learning in a community of inquiry. It argues for the inclusion of self‐regulated learning as an essential component of Garrison's community of inquiry model, and illustrates how TBL supports and improves the delivery of this online model.