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Specific Strategies for Online Differentiation and Personalization



Option 1

Consider how you can prepare ahead of and at the beginning of each semester or school year to gain the necessary information about your students to be ready to implement strategies relating to differentiation and personalized learning.  Discuss and provide examples of at least four strategies you will use to gather information on their interests, student readiness, and learner profiles. 


Differentiation and personalization are key elements that are intrinsically connected in the virtual learning environment.  Understanding each student on an individual level is crucial in order to implement differentiated and personalized online instruction.  There are varied ways in which we can gather information on what matters to students, their readiness, and their learning profiles:

Assessment Data
From the perspective of a world language teacher, with the exception of level I-A students, having access to assessment data from previous courses would be an invaluable tool to inform instruction and make content course adjustments to address each student’s needs proactively.

As stated in the NMC Horizon Report, 2013 K-12 Edition, student-specific data can be used to customize curricula and suggest resources to students in the same way that businesses tailor advertisements and offers to customers. This report also suggests that instructors can use data analysis to coach students toward productive behaviors and habits that will lead to their success.

Individualized Plans
As stated in the course, differentiation is not the same as an Individualized Education Program (IEP), a Section 504 Plan, or an ELL Individual Learning Plan.  Nonetheless, the requirements outlined in the accommodations, modifications, and supports provide invaluable information relating to the learning needs of the student.  Individualized plans stipulate how these supports must be implemented in order to ensure that the student will have the appropriate level of assistance throughout the course.

A specific example of the relevance of individualized plans in differentiated and personalized instruction is that In the IEP section relating to the nature of the disability, plans usually go into the extent of describing not only the disability per se, but also how this disability has an impact on the student’s academic performance.  It offers an insight into student’s intrinsic motivation, strengths, and challenges, and how they are all connected to the student’s documented disability.  

Student Interest Surveys
Student interest surveys provide a wealth of information about what matters to students.  From my experience, using this type of surveys is one of the most effective ways to make learning relevant to them.  Integrating student interests in content instruction and assessments helps promote student engagement and create a more student-centered online learning environment.  When students are given choices that reflect what is important to them, the positive impact of this approach on student achievement is unquestionable.  The ultimate goal is to help students experience academic success.


Diagnostic and Formative Assessments
Measuring student achievement of learning goals by initially delivering a diagnostic assessment, followed by frequent formative assessments, is at the heart of differentiated and personalized instruction.  In the online learning environment, formative assessments become even more relevant since they empower students in the virtual classroom to self-assess their own understanding while practicing concepts and skills.  Diagnostic assessments help us determine student’s prior knowledge as well as conceptual misconceptions that the student might have before introducing a new learning goal.  Having access to this type of information will better equip us to support each student’s educational journey.

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