Learner Profiles

Learner Profiles help teachers know more about their students. It is beneficial for both the student and teacher to know the student's interests and strengths.

It gives the students the ability to express:

who they are
address assumptions people may have about them or their disability
express their aspirations and passions
have a say in what goes on for them at school and in their learning

These profiles can be created and collected through various means. Teachers can use the data from these profiles to help guide students with the personalized choices they make about their learning.

Image Source: Dallas ISD

COLLECTING DATA ON LEARNER PROFILES

One does not have to use technology to create a learner profile, but using technology can help facilitate the process. You can create a survey to find out more about each one of your students or have them create a project that depicts their personality.

First you need to decide whether to create a survey for your students to take or allow them to create a project for their profile. Depending on the level of your students and their abilities you may want to do a combination of both. Below are several resources to choose from. Look at each one before deciding which one you would like to use to create your own learner profile.

Surveys | Interest Inventories

Using Google Forms and Save as Doc (an add-on for Google Sheets), you can collect data about your students passions, interests, and learning preferences that can help you make suggestions and guide their learning when you begin to offer them choices or even the ability to determine their own learning path. Google Forms collects student answers to questions in a spreadsheet, while Save as Doc turns any student's responses into a text document with the questions and answers listed. Check out this Sample Learning Survey and Example Data (not real student data) created by Save as Doc.
Survey Monkey is another good tool to use to survey your students. You can have ten questions and up to 100 responses for the basic account. Here are instructions for creating your first survey. After your students have taken the survey you can see a summary view of your data; browse individual responses; create custom charts; use filters to focus on specific data views and segments; and easily download your results in multiple formats.
The Kami Chrome App allows you to take a traditional student inventory and make it fun by changing the text font or color, adding comments and even highlights. This resource is free.
Sophia.org has tons of open educational resources such as the learning preference assessment. This short quiz will tell you and your students how they learn best.
Also check out these learner profiles...

Projects | Activities

Ice Breaker activities will allow you to get to know your students better as well as their preferences. Below are a few activities you could do in the classroom:

The All About Me Google Drawing combines two of my favorite tools, Google Drawing and Padlet. Have your students create a Google Drawing from scratch that will share information about themselves. They can add text, images, and links to the Google Drawing as they record facts such as where they are from, favorite sports, hobbies, etc. Once your students have completed their drawing, have them save it as an image and upload it to a collaborative Padlet. If you would like to see an example, take a look at my All About Me Padlet.
Emojis are so popular these days that students are using them all the time. So why not have your students create their own Emoji and then write a paragraph about themselves as an icebreaker activity? Try it out for yourself by going to the About Me Emoji Google Slide.

Another visual way to present yourself is through TES Blendspace, which allows students to create tiles of their interests, skills, and abilities.

Video Projects

1. Flipgrid is a video discussion board service that will allow your students to respond to a question you ask. Teachers can create a grid for free just by signing up for an account. It’s a great way to capture your student’s voices and ideas.

A fantastic icebreaker would be to create a Two Truths and a Lie Flipgrid. Give students the URL to your Flipgrid or they can scan the QR code to access it. Your students would then click on the green plus sign and record themselves telling two truths and one lie about themselves. You could even pair students up and have them record each other. After all the students have finished, you can pull the Flipgrid up on the screen and the class can take turns guessing which statement is a lie. It’s a great way for the class to get to know one another. Want to try it? Test it out on this sample Flipgrid I created.

Two Truths and One LieTell two truths and one lie about yourself.

2. WeVideo is another option. Students can record themselves and upload 5 minutes a month up to 1GB to WeVideo. There is an educator version that is $249.00 a year which allows students to create videos in a private COPPA-compliant environment monitored by a teacher. Free Personal accounts do not include collaborative features, administrator security control or advanced editing tools like green screen, screen recording and slow motion. For assistance with WeVideo check out their tutorials.

TIP: Have your students complete multiple learner profiles throughout the year since your students’ interests and goals are going to change.

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