Dynamic Communication

Appropriate and effective communication is essential for a personalized learning environment. Students and teachers alike need to be able to communicate with each other to ensure that each student is receiving educational opportunities and interacting with the content in the ways that will assist them in reaching mastery levels. According to the GAPSC Standards for Personalized Learning, teachers can "facilitate communication that flows multi-directionally from all stakeholders to meet learner needs in a variety of flexible formats". In order for a personalized learning setting to flow smoothly, teachers need to implement the nine building blocks, one of which is communication (Clark, 2015).

According to Clark (2016), there has been concern about students being too "disconnected" in an environment that utilizes technology tools frequently, but it has been shown that in BYOD and 1:1 environments, students tend to have more effective communication due to the increased opportunities to communicate. In this kind of environment, teachers and students are not limited to just speaking face-to-face and writing down communications on paper; they can communicate through emails, comments, videos, audio recordings, and more. A study by Ice, Curtis, Phillips, & Wells showed that many students prefer audio feedback, especially in a digital environment, because they are more likely to understand what their instructor is saying because they don't miss out on the nuances and the tone of voice when they can hear it; they also feel more involved and are more likely to retain the content from this kind of feedback (2007).

No matter what format of communication is used, one important job of the teacher is teaching students how they can communicate effectively to portray information as well as to advocate for themselves. Clark (2016) listed five purposes of communication: to inform, to express feelings, to imagine, to influence, and to meet social expectations. Teachers should consistently be modeling these five purposes within their own communication as well as coaching their students on how and when to communicate for each purpose. Many students get most of their social interaction while they are at school, whether face to face or digitally, so it is important that teachers effectively use their time with students to help them improve their communicative skills. It is also essential to highlight nonverbal communication, because students need to be mindful of their facial expressions, posture, gestures, and more as they are communicating with others. The Sheridan Center (n.d.) provides a helpful resource that can be utilized by teachers and students alike to reflect on their current communication skills as well as build upon and improve them.

However, good communication does not matter if no one is listening. We should also be coaching our students on what good listening is, because being a good listener is an important trait to have. Maryville University (n.d.) lists multiple benefits to being a good listener, such as: reducing tension in arguments and communicating respect, being perceived as more likable because you are present in the conversation, building stronger relationships by showing interests and asking questions, and having a clearer understanding of the discussion due to the attention paid. Students need to understand verbal and nonverbal communicative tools, how to use them, and when to use them so that they are able to communicate effectively with others in school, in their careers, in their hobbies, and in everyday situations.

Coaching Learners to Initiate Communication

It is important for educators in a personalized learning setting to coach learners to initiate conversation. Some key components of personalized learning are learner agency, student voice, and executive function skills. Teaching our students to advocate for themselves and giving them ways to speak up can help them effectively manage those components.

An effective way to allow students to initiate communication is through Google Forms. Teachers can use questions with a set of answers (as shown above) as well as spaces for students to type in more information. For example, on my co-planning Google Form, I begin with questions with set answers that ask what it relates to, and I made sure to include a "something else" choice if they need to speak to me about anything non-assignment related, such as college plans. After a couple of questions with answer sets, I provide a space for students to share more details so that I know where they are in their thinking before I speak to them.

If a teacher provides a Google Form like this, it is important to check it daily so that students are not missed when they need assistance. This strategy is effective for in-person and digital environments.

This is a strategy that wouldn't work in a digital setting, but it does work in person. If a student needs assistance but the teacher is already helping someone else, this is an effective way for a student to signal to the teacher that they need something without interrupting. I have a few of these sticky notes on my desk, and a student can come grab one and then place it in a visible spot near them (such as on the cabinet above the computer they are working on). Then with the next scan of the room to monitor student progress, this alerts me that I need to go to that student next. This strategy allows students to advocate for themselves while the teacher is busy so that they can also be respectful of the other student's meeting time.

A digital equivalent could be changing an availability status to "Available" when help is needed but keeping it on "Away" or "Do Not Disturb" if the student is doing ok. This also provides a visual indicator.

Communicating through the LMS is also a great way for students to initiate communication. I use Google Classroom with my students, and they know that they can comment on any assignment and receive a response from me. In the case of this example, this student had been quarantined due to COVID exposure, so he asked for a Zoom meeting to receive assistance while he was at home. Students can use the comments to request virtual meetings, in person meetings, or just further explanations for what they do not understand about the content or process. Especially for shy students, having this digital option for initiating a conversation is helpful.

This could work in both a digital setting and an in person setting. Depending on the LMS used, students may also have options to send emails within the LMS, such as on Kennesaw State's Brightspace platform.

Communicating Curricula

It is essential that teachers use the appropriate tools and resources to communicate curricula in order to ensure that students can access it and effectively learn from it.

One of the most effective ways to communicate curricula is through presentational artifacts. Teachers can use a variety of tools such as Google Slides, PowerPoint, Prezi, Nearpod, Quizizz Lessons, and more. In my classroom, I make a set of Google Slides for everything so that I can link it directly to my Google Classroom for better accessibility for my students. It provides them with all the information they need about a particular topic, and whenever I have a new set of grammar slides, I include a slide with practice sentences as well as a slide with an answer key so that students can check their progress on their own. A presentation is an appropriate way to communicate curricula because it allows the educator to chunk the information into manageable pieces for students, and helpful additions to text can be used, such as images, audio, videos, and more.

Whenever I am communicate curricula surrounding culture to my students, I like to use Nearpod and virtual reality. When communicating information about a place like Pompeii, Italy, students may not fully understand because they are not there. The closest thing we can get to being there without paying to travel is the use of virtual reality. Using resources such as Nearpod, educators can communicate information about a different location and then place students there through virtual reality to make it more meaningful and authentic. Educators can supply picture after picture, but until a student feels like they are there and they can see everything in 360 degrees, it may not click for them. This is an effective way to communicate cultural and historical curricula, because it makes students feel more present and interested in the content.

Another way that educators communicate curricula is through assignments and the instructions to complete them. In the example to the left, I created an assignment in which students did more of a focus on verbs from a story they had already demonstrated mastery on. Students had gotten a new verb tense, but that brought them to four different verb tenses in Latin, which can be difficult for students to differentiate. In the instructions of the assignment, I provided reminders from the curriculum, and then students had to use my instructions as well as other resources available to them to differentiate between the different verb tenses by changing their colors in the Google Doc. Educators can provide extra information in instructions to ensure that students fully understand what is being asked of them. If an educator wants students to use other sources to complete the assignment, they should provide links or tell students where they can go to access other resources that communicated the curricula in order for them to be successful.

Model and Nurture Effective Communication

Educators should model and nurture effective communication with all stakeholders. This includes communication with students, parents, administrators, and others who are involved in the education of students. Furthermore, communication is multidirectional in the classroom, so to ensure effective communication and learning within a personalized learning classroom, educators should foster good communication skills among students so that they are able to effectively speak with each other as well as their parents and administrators when needed. Finally, as with coaching learners to initiate communication, it is essential that educators provide multiple means of communication for students to communicate with them. As educators, we are not just speaking to students and that's it; we need to let students share their voices with us and be able to talk to us whenever they need to.

One way that educators can communicate effectively with all stakeholders and one way that the stakeholders can in return communicate with educators is through email. It is important to keep all correspondence to and from students, parents, and others, because this communication can help educators to ensure that each students is receiving the best learning experience for him/her. I personally have a folder titled "P&S Contact" in which the "P" stands for "parents" and the "S" stands for "students" but it of course contains correspondences with counselors and administrators as well. It is essential that educators establish positive relationships among all stakeholders, because then everyone is on board for each child's education, and success is far more likely in that case. Emailing is a quick way to send updates, have questions answered, and more, but of course phone calls may be necessary sometimes, so email is not the only form of communication needed.

I started doing check ins especially once the COVID-19 pandemic hit and our students were at home. Check In forms through platforms such as Google Forms or Survey Monkey are an effective tool for teachers to allow students to initiate communication whenever they need to discuss something or they want to share something, whether it is about school or their personal life. I begin with the question of whether they need to speak to me in person, so then I can either keep reading if they do not, or I can work with them when they come to class and we can find time to chat. This has been effective this school year, because I have gotten to know my students better due to these communications, and they seem to be more involved because they know that they are valued within my class. One of the five purposes of communication is to express feelings (Clark, 2016). This platform allows students to do just that if they need an adult to speak with to vent, get advice, or work out a problem.

In addition to students initiation communication with educators, Google Classroom comments can also be used to communicate back and forth about assignments. Whenever students miss anything on an assignment submitted through Google Classroom, I make sure to add comments with what they missed, and sometimes that lead to more conversation in the comments or in person as well as potential reteaching for the student to understand the curriculum. I personally like these digital comment threads, because students are able to go back and reread them whenever they need to, whereas they may forget what was said in a face-to-face conversation about the same topic. Comment sections within an LMS allow students to communicate with teachers as well as other students, and they are an effective and appropriate digital tool for communication in a personalized learning environment.

References

Clark, T. (2015, September 14). Building blocks for personalized learning. BYOT Network.
https://byotnetwork.com/2015/09/14/building-blocks-for-personalized-learning/

Clark, T. (2016, June 28). Communication for personalized learning. BYOT Network.
https://byotnetwork.com/2016/06/28/communication-for-personalized-learning/

Georgia Professional Standards Commission. (2019, January 15). GAPSC standards for personalized learning.
https://www.gapsc.com/Rules/Current/EducatorPreparation/505-3-.108.pdf?dt=%3C%25

Ice, P., Curtis, R., Phillips, P., & Wells, J. (2007, July). Using asynchronous audio feedback to enhance teaching presence and students' sense of community. Journal of
Asynchronous Learning Networks, 11(2), 3-25. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ842694.pdf

Maryville University (n.d.). How to be a better listener: Exploring 4 types of listening. https://online.maryville.edu/blog/types-of-listening/

The Sheridan Center. (n.d.). Classroom communication tips. Brown University.
https://www.brown.edu/sheridan/teaching-learning-resources/teaching-resources/classroom-practices/classroom-communication/tips

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