As one of four components of effective online learning – a list that includes Learner-, Community-, and Assessment-centered design concerns – knowledge-centered design emphasizes the importance of the teacher both to identify and to establish the processes by which knowledge content will be conveyed to the learner.

It is the teacher who structures the knowledge content to be passed to the student on the basis of that teacher’s own understanding as a content or subject matter expert and as an educator.

Margaret Riel in New Designs for Connected Teaching and Learning, presented at the U.S. Dept. of Education: Secretary’s Conference on Educational Technology, September 2000, says of knowledge-centered in effective learning environments:
 “Because the ability to think, reflect, and solve problems is strengthened by access to ideas, assumptions and conceptions of others arranged in meaningful ways. Many teachers work very hard to reach and teach their students. This means continual learning of curriculum content as well as methods of instruction.”