Differentiation is key! As I read the content for this week and watched the videos, this was a prominent message throughout. If we want to design an online course that is effective and truly beneficial to all learners, we must take into account the diversity of our students during the course planning phase to ensure we are offering a range of options (Bates, 2015) and learning opportunities that meet the needs of diverse learners (CAST, 2010). This takes us getting to know our students’ academic abilities, current technology skills and access, and interests (Bates, 2015). Once we know this information, we can then use the UDL model to study our course objectives and find the most appropriate collection of media and resources that can effectively present these objectives to learners in multiple ways, engages students in learning in a variety of ways, and allows students to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways (CAST, 2010). When we have done this, we have designed an interesting, goal-driven, and engaging course for learners that meets each student where they are.
In the virtual learning behaviors course I am currently designing, differentiation is something that I have considered during my planning. However, it has primarily been in regards to how students will be allowed to demonstrate learning. Using a choice board, learners will be allowed to pick which method they would like to use when responding to assignments. These include written responses, video responses, song/rap responses, demonstration responses, or drawings/graphic responses. With each choice, I have provided a rubric for what is expected in each particular format. I believe this inclusion of a choice response board will prompt learners to gain an enthusiasm for learning (CAST, 2010). Therefore, after reviewing the learning materials this week, my main goal now with this portion of my course design is to go back over these activities to make sure they are the best possible activities to demonstrate knowledge of the learning objective and are diverse enough to appeal to learners of all aptitudes, technology levels, and interests so that they are excited to show their understanding of the learning objectives.
When it comes to student engagement, my course currently has learners completing reflection blog posts, weekly discussion questions and mini projects via collaborative groups. After evaluating these assignments, I feel these activities are good for encouraging necessary interaction between students online. However, with the current design of my course, students do not have much face to face interaction with me. And, according to research, when instructors establish a regular presence in the online learning environment, the effectiveness of online learning increases (Morrison, 2013). Having the teacher "face to face" has also been shown to benefit students lacking self-confidence or experience (Bates, 2015) with the learning concepts, which helps increase my level of differentiation in the course. Therefore, I have decided to change the format of my online course to more of a flipped style. The time when we are not meeting online will be equivalent to the home component of flipped classrooms. Therefore, students will use this time to engage with the learning resources, answer discussion questions, and complete reflection blogs. While students are completing these activities, I can establish my regular presence online by providing daily feedback to student posts and posing questions to students individually that either steer them in the right direction or extend their thinking on the learning objectives. The questions each student receives will depend on the level of understanding shown in their posts. Our online meeting time will be the “classroom component” of the flipped learning model. This time will consist of a brief review of concepts studied at home and then students mostly working on their collaborative mini projects in breakout groups. I felt this would be the best way to utilize our "face to face" time because these are the most difficult tasks in the course and, therefore, may require the most immediate assistance and guidance from me. This will also provide students with a regular meeting time and location to ensure they are in a routine of working together on their projects. As students are working, I will monitor each group’s ability to think and work together and provide support, guidance, and feedback when learners need it.
Finally, in the area of presentation of information, I am primarily using videos. Because I have 3rd graders, I thought incorporating short, kid-friendly videos would be the most engaging for them. The videos I selected also provide the multimedia element that actively builds models and creates long term connections for deeper learning (UNMC E-Learning, 2015). They also are in alignment with the course learning objectives. However, after engaging with the learning materials this week, I realize this form of media alone is not enough and may not necessarily meet each student where they are. Therefore, I plan to research open educational resources such as Merlot.org, OER Commons.org, OE Consortium, and Google (EmergingEdTech, 2015) for readings, infographics, songs, games, etc. that effectively cover the course objectives and add more diversity to the learning content in order to reach more learners.
REFERENCES
Bates, A.W. (2015) Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning (Chapters 8-10). Retrieved from
CAST. (2010). UDL At A Glance. [Video]. Retrieved from https://amara.org/en/videos/8Aygby4OcIcF/info/udl-at-a-glance/
EmergingEdTech. (2015). 3 Minute Teaching With Technology Tutorial - Open Educational Resources. [Video]. Retrieved from https://amara.org/en/videos/ceVFldQrMK7w/info/3-minute-teaching-with-technology-tutorial-open-educational-resources
Morrison,D. (2013, Aug. 24). Essential Resources for Educators of Online and Blended Courses. Retrieved from https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/essential-resources-for-educators-of-online-and-blended-courses/
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