Individualized Learning Pathways

1. Create formative assessments which will help you identify student needs in:

   1. Standards

   2. Preferred Learning Styles

   3. Interests

   4. Special Needs

Doing everything all at once can be overwhelming. Start small. Choose one of the ideas in the following list to try, then slowly build so as to not overwhelm yourself or confuse your students. By starting small, you can try a few different ideas and isolate what truly works best for you and your students.

1. Identify a variety of content options including video, audio, and text.

   • Try to choose flexible content that can be delivered in a variety of ways. Consider how that content can both work online and in the classroom.

   • Identify why the content is relevant to the learning or the student. Can you make any real-world, authentic connections?

   • Consider using menus or choice boards of content where you can allow students choice or direct them to choose one item from column A, B, and C.

     • See "The Ultimate Guide to Choice Boards and Learning Menus" for some ideas.

2. Identify a variety of means to demonstrate learning including

   • Video/Screencasting

   • Conversation/Discussion

   • Written/Typed

   • Individual/Collaborative

     • Collaboration allows students to build relationships

     • Peer feedback can be a helpful step before teacher feedback

3. Make connections between these ideas

   • What will the student need to know first, second, third... etc.? How will you 'chunk' the learning?

   • How will a student be able to 'skip' a step or a task if you identify in the formative assessment that he/she has already mastered the skill?

   • How will you offer feedback to students throughout various stages?

   • How will you transition students from one idea to the next?

4. Provide Strategic and Universal Prompts - Waystations

   • Create prompts or 'waystations' which every student will need to pass through to reflect on their learning, no matter how they consumed the content or demonstrated learning previously. Design prompts which ask students to apply their learning authentically and make real-world connections.

   • Use the prompts as reflections which tie back to the standards and learning goals.

5. Create a Progress Guide

   • As students work through this pathway, they need to be able to gauge what they need to do. This can be done by assigning individual checklists to students or creating another visual that will let them see what they need to complete.

1. Design summative assessments to identify whether students have learned the content.

2. Consider offering a variety of summative assessments which may meet students' particular learning preferences and needs.

3. Allow students to demonstrate their learning in creative ways.

4. When possible, allow the summative task to be authentic.

   • Consider this article, "Authentic Learning: What, Why, and How?" to guide you as you consider including authenticity in your learning.