Differentiation During Distance Learning

Author: Troy Decker

In recent years, education has become more and more reliant on technology and individualized instruction.  The days of pencils and paper, chalk and chalkboards, and the "one size fits all" lessons are long gone.  With that being said, I would like to propose a new and innovative idea for the educators and administrators of Delaware City Schools.  I believe that all of our district's teachers should be using differentiation during this time of distance learning.  In lieu of the Coronavirus Outbreak, all of our educators are working from home and using Canvas as a means of providing instruction to our students, who also are working from home.  Throughout my time at ACE, I have learned a great deal about instructional design and technology, and I would be more than willing to offer a professional development opportunity, where I instruct teachers on how to implement best practices for instructional design and online learning.  There have been multiple discussions about teachers providing a professional development (PD) over the summer, and I intend to step out of my comfort zone and present.

Background

The timeline for Ohio's changes in Distance Learning have been detailed by Bischoff & Spicker (2020).  Here is the breakdown:

On March 12th, 2020, Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton ordered K-12 schools to shut down from March 17th to April 6th.

On March 30th, the school closures were extended to May 1st.

Finally, Gov. DeWine and Dr. Acton stated that schools would need to remain closed for the remainder of the school year, and possibly even part of the 2020-21 school year.

Link to My School Canvas Page Walkthrough

The following is a link to a video for my Delaware City Schools Canvas page, which includes my "Distance Learning Module":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBLeiBxcU3M&feature=youtu.be

Here, you can access the general outline for how I have been conducting my online instruction, as well as more information on my class' differentiated learning program, IXL. 

The Problem

With the uncertainty of when schools will go back to their original structure, educators of Delaware City Schools need to be better prepared for instructing students in an online format, through differentiated lesson planning.  It has been widely argued that "differentiation is among the optimum pedagogical approaches since it transforms instruction into a dynamic, pleasant, satisfying, self-regulated, and effective process based on students' needs and characteristics" (Valiandes & Neophytou, 2018).  Now, more than ever, our students need this individualized teaching, because like us, they are not familiar with this new kind of educational structure.  Consequently, I am nearly certain that there will be teacher push back, as this new form of teaching is going to require a lot of extra planning and effort.

The Solution

In order to solve the issue with teachers' lack of knowledge for implementing this new style of lesson delivery, I would like to propose that I deliver a mandatory professional development (PD) on differentiated distance learning.  Due to the limitations with face-to-face meetings, I plan to record myself delivering the PD, and then administration can share the video with the rest of the district via email.  Following the implementation of the mandatory, differentiated distance learning, it should be the district's goal to "engage teachers in the identification of the effectiveness of their practices" (Valiandes & Neophytou, 2018).  Considering this situation is something that could happen again, and teaching this way may even provide us with better educational results, teachers should be able to reflect on this new form of teaching, and be prepared to use it in the future.

Professional Development (PD) Plan

In order to engage as many viewers as possible, "excellent communication and presentation skills are critical" (Tarkowski, 2017).  I plan on taking the suggested "1 to 2 minutes" (Tarkowski, 2017) on each slide, and making sure that my point is clear and concise.  Topics to be discussed include:

1.) Title/Intro

2.) Background

3.) Example Canvas Page

4.) Differentiation Discussion

5.) Case Studies

6.) Conclusion

7.) Questions

8.) References

Differentiation Breakdown

The program for which I have been implementing differentiated instruction is called IXL.  IXL is an interactive, online program that allows students to practice content from all of the core subject areas (math, language arts, science, and social studies), as well as Spanish.  The difficulty of problems increase as students get more problems correct.  This resource also offers students immediate explanations as to why they got problems incorrect, so students will not have to wait for teacher feedback.  By using this teaching/learning resource, along with the short teaching videos that I have provided, students are receiving highly-efficient, differentiated instruction.

The process for which I have set up my Distance Learning Module follows a branch of differentiation known as, scaffolding.  "The notion of scaffolding is influenced by Vygotsky's 'zone of proximal development' which is understood as the distance between the actual developmental level, as determined by independent problem solving, and the level of potential developments determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Nielson, 2008).  By offering videos of previously taught material, and then having students access practice problems on IXL, which are tiered to their abilities, I am maximizing students' "Zone of Proximal Development".  Another major contributing factor to differentiation and online, distance teaching/learning, in general, is teacher availability.  I have to make sure that I am readily available to my students, if questions or concerns do arise.  Consequently, I have listed my office hours at the top of my Canvas module, along with my email, so that students can reach out to me, in the rare instance that the IXL explanations were not thorough enough.

Lastly, I use the IXL Diagnostics feature as another source of differentiated instruction.  This aspect of IXL gives students a 50-100 question exam, and discloses any and all gaps that students might have from previous years of instruction, in a particular course of study.  I use this feature on Fridays, because I feel as though it is a great way to end the week.  Students are only expected to spend about 15 minutes per day, per class, doing online learning.  In addition, teachers must maximize the outcomes of their 15 minutes, and I believe that this program does just that.  Each individual student is analyzed without any work from me, and then standards for which students require more work are randomly assigned, along with teaching and instructions.  Moreover, because I am not spending as much time designing and planning, I can help students when issues arise.

References

Bischoff, L., & Spicker, K. (2020, May 1). Coronavirus timeline: A look at the orders changing life in Ohio. Retrieved May 2, 2020, from https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/local/timeline-coronavirus-prompts-orders-changing-everyday-life-ohio/gpnVSADPxZxMltlDVyqKEP/

Nielsen, K. (2008). Scaffold instruction at the workplace from a situated perspective. Studies in Continuing Education, 30(3), 247–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/01580370802439888

Tarkowski, R. (2017). Reflections: Improving Medical Students’ Presentation Skills. Journal of Cancer Education : The Official Journal of the American Association for Cancer Education, 32(4), 935–937. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1005-6

Valiandes, S., & Neophytou, L. (2018). Teachers’ professional development for differentiated instruction in mixed-ability classrooms: investigating the impact of a development program on teachers’ professional learning and on students’ achievement. Teacher Development, 22(1), 123–138. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2017.1338196