Learner Profiles

Description

What Is It?

A learner profile is a document, project, or even conversation that helps teachers learn more about their students.

Learner profiles may include information such as:

  • Skills, strengths, and interests

  • Aspirations and passions

  • Likes and dislikes

  • Life experiences

  • How the student likes to learn

  • Struggles or potential barriers to learning

  • Anything else the student or teacher deems important

Why Use It?

Teachers can use learner profiles to build effective relationships, develop an inclusive classroom, and understand what technology, differentiations, or adaptations may be needed for individual students.

Instructional Steps:

The easiest and most effective way to generate learner profiles is to have the students create their own. Student-created learner profiles can take the shape of a PowerPoint presentation, video, letter, infographic, poem, and so on. These profiles can incorporate both words and visuals that describe the student.

In keeping with the overall purpose of the profile, you may provide students with a variety of choices. Give students a list of questions, then explain that they can respond to the questions using a variety of tools, including:

  • PowerPoint

  • Google Slides

  • Prezi

  • Piktochart (allows students to create infographics)

  • Windows Movie Maker

  • Another tool of their choice, if approved by you

The format each student chooses will give you even more information about their learning style and preferences.

If, on the other hand, you want to easily compile this information, you may prefer to assign your students a survey using tools such as Google Forms or Survey Monkey. Google Forms collects responses in a spreadsheet and allows you to view individual responses, and with Survey Monkey you can create custom charts, see a summary view of your data, and browse individual responses.

Quick Tips

  • Learner Profiles should be done periodically, since learning preferences and styles develop and change throughout the year, based on their experiences.

  • Tools for creating: Google Form (w/emojis for younger learners), informal discussions with teacher taking notes.

Resources

Did you know?

  • The Technology Design Team can assist with implementation. Learner Profiles go beyond "getting to know you" surveys and are intended to provide teachers with insights about their students so that a teacher's lesson design is created in a way to supports students based on how they learn best (ex: video, reading an article, working alone or in a group, etc).

  • A strategy that can be used in addition to a learner profile is a LifeMap. A LifeMap is a visual timeline generally used to describe your life over a period of time. Can also be used to reflect on a unit of learning, experience with a specific content or concept, etc.

    • This is a great tool to help student reflect on their progress/journey (both academically and personally). Consider using a lifemap as part of a learner profile - example: ask students to draw their lifemap of math and label the "ups" and "downs" or create a lifemap of the first 9 weeks (high point, did really well on a project in science, low point, struggling in reading, low point lost a pet, high point, had a birthday, high point got a solo in music, etc).