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Personalized Learning
Ways to Engage Learners in the Classroom Through Personalized Learning
Engaging students with material in the classroom can be difficult sometimes. Teachers hope their lessons grab the students' attention so the students can learn effectively but in a traditional classroom, engaging students can be difficult. Teachers report finding the following:
- Some students learn quickly, finish early and are bored once they understand the objective while others struggle to meet the target before the teacher has to move on.
- Students learn objectives for the upcoming test but forget the material soon after.
- Formative assessments are time consuming to grade.
- It is difficult to keep up with each student's progress.
- Effectively differentiating instruction is not practical and feels impossible.
These sound like hard problems to solve. How can you effectively teach such a diverse environment without feeling like you're running a circus? There are ways to help kids be immersed in content while learning at their own pace without having a chaotic classroom. Below, we explore three ways to personalize learning in the classroom: Mastery Based Learning, Adaptive Learning, and Problem/Project Based Learning
Mastery Based Learning
In mastery based learning, students only move on when they have completed mastering the previous lesson objectives. This allows students who normally finish early to move forward and for those who are struggling to spend more time learning the material. Formative assessments help determine where students are at any particular time. They show teachers where they need to differentiate instruction so mastery based learning takes place. This is clearly the best way for students to learn but the time it takes to teach this way stops many teachers from doing so.
Now, there is software that allows learning to happen without teachers having to create many formative assessments because the software does this for them. An example is Khan Academy software. Using this software, kids work individually and only move on to their next objective when they show mastery of the previous one. Teachers are not absent. In fact, the role of the teacher is amplified. Teachers are given real time data about who is learning which objective and where students are having difficulties. This allows teachers to provide the extra help when and where it is needed. Formative assessments are immediate so problems can be addressed during the learning process which can be more effective than waiting until the next class. Unfortunately, when kids are plugged in to a computer screen and are learning individually, the necessary collaboration that takes place in a traditional setting is lost. These peer-to-peer relationships are not only a valuable learning experience but provide students with a key 21st Century Skill. Incorporating collaboration into mastery-based learning is an issue that must be faced. Perhaps with collaboration, students would be able to help each other master an objective without as much frustration that can be felt when the student's first several attempts aren't successful. If students can work with each other to figure out what is wrong, the frustration may alleviated.
Pictured above is a snowman created using Khan Academy "Hour of Code" at code.org, a mastery based program that requires students to learn coding.
Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning is computer software that teaches subject matter and provides personalized lessons based on a student's mastery level. While all objectives are the same within the course, it's possible that no two students would have the same practice material. When a student answers incorrectly while working with adaptive software, the software will focus the rest of the lesson on that area until the student has mastered it. This can all happen without a teacher present. Unfortunately, this software is mostly available for math and reading with fewer advances in other subjects.
The following example is provided from using one of the "Dreambox" software programs. When a student is trying to learn root words, the software teaches the students a few roots to know. Students then apply that new knowledge by exploring the meaning of words using those roots by selecting pictures associated with the meaning of the root. When a student is incorrect, the root they missed is repeated until they show they've learned what it means. Some students may require more practice than others. This prevents students who learn quickly from getting bored and can provide them with enrichment. Those who struggle get the extra help they need until they master a concept.
Arizona State uses the adaptive program "Knewton," with its new, incoming freshman who show they have struggled in math. They learn online in a room with a facilitator and work on their own areas of focus. Students report to love this new way of learning because they can work at their own pace.
Below are pictures from two different adaptive software programs, Dreambox and LexiaCore5, that provide the same service that Knewton does to K-12 schools. Notice the engaging graphics.
Problem and Project Based Learning
Problem and Project based learning (PBL) are immersive activities where students are given a problem or scenario which requires their understanding of lesson objectives to complete. This activity is not the end part of a unit. Instead, the project or problem solving is how they learn the material. Students are required to collaborate and learn from each other as they go through the process. Teachers serve as facilitators guiding students to the result. There is no one way to solve these problems so each student takes their own path to their new understanding. They take ownership in their result and are able to share it with their classmates, the school, and the public.
Sammamish High School in Washington State recently became a PBL school "wall to wall" across all disciplines. They found that creating the learner centered approach has engaged students in a way never seen before. Students report that they feel they are learning something important and that by learning through experience they will better remember what they learned.
One difficulty the school faced while making this challenge was covering all the state, federal, and College Board standards because the lessons are time consuming.
See the video below for more information about how Sammamish High School has implemented PBL:
Conclusion
Personalized learning can make any classroom more effective! Here are ways the most common learning issues can be addressed with any of the strategies described above.
If your problem is not listed above, there are many resources available to learn more about personalized leaning solutions. Investigate how mastery based, adaptive, and/or project/problem based learning can help you teach more effectively and efficiently.
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