Title: EB Butterfly, Author Budd, C. Source: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Alternative question for teachers of adult learners: What are the benefits of differentiation for adult learners?
Respect of the student once again shines as a silver coin among our reading. Lipscomb University article supports that differential instruction “honors diversity as students” which “creates motivation to learn” (2015, ¶ 5). As we begin to reach out to our students and learn their” learning preference, background knowledge, interest, cultural differences and learning readiness” to exhibit an interest in who they are as individual and therefore build a mutual respect for learning through a differentiated process (2015, ¶ 6). Mutual respect allows for increased trust especially in the adult learning environment. This increased trust and respect allows the learner and even the instructor to begin to morph into something more beautiful such as a butterfly. Engagement, the word makes me think of a bond between two people. Often Differential Instruction causes a more “holistic” connection between the instructor and students (Dosch & Zidon 2014, pp. 351). The various assessments, gaining understanding of learning styles and sharing of knowledge allows the barriers between people to break down where people feel more relaxed in the environment which decreases stress and improved overall learning (Joseph, Thomas, Simonette & Ramsoon, 2013, pp.39). Deeper understanding of topics is often referred to within articles. Joseph, Thomas, Simonette & Ramsoon found through research that those who participate in DI had “higher levels of intellectual growth and interest in the subject” (2013, pp. 28). The ability for the learner to participate in choosing how they could process the information best assisted to not only engage the student more yet also to drive them to know more which contributes to self-esteem, empowerment to learn and sense of community to learn and share together. To make DI effective everyone on the team from leadership of the educational system to the student needs to support the idea (Corley, n.d, pp.4). Bibliography Corley, M. A. (n. d.). Differentiated instruction, adjusting to the needs of all learners. NCSALL Available from http://www.ncsall.net/?id=736. Pp 1-7. Dosch, M. & Zidon, M. (2014). “The course fit us”: Differentiated instruction in the college classroom. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 26(3), pp. 343-357. Title: EB Butterfly, Author Budd, C. Source: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic. https://www.flickr.com/photos/58827557@N06/16339306676/in/photolist-qTRdC5-mWNbwE-gGyQCG-gGzeR7-gGyQiy-gGzSRX-G7TRYJ-aZ56qg-gGzawK-8ejeVy-9Zzb2y-9imrPk-fAQkjA-394xoE-qLZjru-61VeTp-9NHExn-7AUt6h-7swtPA-eiVTPN-boHZb6-7ANRk7-9eemDh-9Amnye-nVrWKy-d9sf2A-6oPJbc-qMBmnm-2gHdVd-7syVTT-4HrZwz-ahdA-4HwddY-66BRwA-8gS5NY-96abmQ-gGyQ7G-gGzdJh-gGyQaC-5Ljzh8-9wDJWm-5LoPPY-967eia-gGze33-snAtmg-fLRD6K-gGzQ3F-5Tu8ch-gGyQks-4ELb7Q/ Huang, H. (2002). Toward constructivism for adult learners in online learning environments. British Journal of Educational Technology. 33(1), pp. 27-37. Available at https://brainmass.com/file/1433703/Article.pdf Joseph, S., Thomas, M., Simonette, G., & Ramsook, L. (2013). The impact of differentiated instruction in a teacher education setting: successes and challenges. International Journal of Higher Education. 2(3) pp. 28-40 doi:10.5430/ijhe.v2n3p28 Lipscomb University (2015). Differentiation for the adult learner. Available form http://www.lipscomb.edu/education/blog/education/2015/4/10/differentiation-for-adult-learners McCarty, W., Crow, S. R., Mims, G. A., Potthoff, D. E., Harvey, J. S. (2016). Renewing teaching practices: Differentiated instruction in the college classroom. Journal Of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership In Education. 1(1), pp. 35-44. Available at: http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/ctlle/vol1/iss1/5 TEAL Center (2012). Fact sheet No. 5: Differentiated instruction. Available online at https://lincs.ed.gov/programs/teal/guide/diffinstruct Tomlinson, C. A. ( 2001 ). The rational for differentiated instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms (2nd ed.) chapter 2. Available online at http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/101043/chapters/The_Rationale_for_Differentiated_Instruction_in_Mixed-Ability_Classrooms.aspx Tomlinson, C. A. & McTighe, J.(2006). Bringing it all together: Curriculum and instruction through the lens of UbD and DI. Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design. Chapter 9. Available at http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/105004/chapters/Bringing-It-All-Together@-Curriculum-and-Instruction-Through-the-Lens-of-UbD-and-DI.aspx
16 Comments
Heather Marie
2/2/2017 11:33:14 pm
I think your observations about diversity, respect, and the importance of holistically knowing our students are spot on. Although its a bit harder in higher ed because you don't see your students every day, one of the things I loved most about teaching K-12 was the ability to build relationships with your students. While engagement and active learning are powerful on their own, they're only helped by a knowledge of your students' lives, interests, and backgrounds/experiences.
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Rachelle White
2/4/2017 08:33:58 pm
I did get the email mentioned with much time invested in pondering this idea. My love of teaching stems from the ability to see students find their voice and self-confidence. I believe that as smaller cohorts, what we call the outreach sites have a slight advantage to implement DI in that the instructor follows the student through the full 2 years of schooling. This allows for the instructor to really get to know a students learning process, strengths and weaknesses. The cohort students commonly come to the first day of class with a commonality of rural living, The ability to build a group "family" is part of the beauty of smaller cohorts. Some of the first lessons I teach is that we all have a voice, roles to play, different experiences to bring, mutual respect not only student-student yet also instructor-student, and the small community life.
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Heather Marie
2/5/2017 09:59:37 am
Rachelle - I think you make a great point here about our distance cohorts having an advantage when it comes to differentiation. When you work in a group of 12 students or less, and you share the same community background, it gives you a real edge on having the time and opportunity to really get to know your students. Plus, by living in the same community, you already have a background of shared experience that we in Anchorage can't easily replicate.
Heather Marie
2/5/2017 10:01:33 am
I meant to say the lack of review and oversight that we experience at the Higher Ed level. =)
Lee
2/3/2017 08:08:41 am
I think that question - "Why do they have a different topic than me? Why do I have to do different reading"? Is the reason that I like to use choice. I think if we can know our population in our courses, we can provide a range of choices and in most cases students will gravitate toward those materials/activities that are most useful to them. Sometimes students are paralyzed by the choice - it's important to build in scaffolding (group activities for instance) to help them move beyond this paralysis.
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Heather Marie
2/3/2017 02:37:51 pm
I love that you pulled out choice in materials as one of your examples. I actually emailed Rachelle, based on my selected readings for this week, to ask how she thought we could modify one of our courses to incorporate choice in textbook.
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Lee
2/6/2017 06:35:17 pm
The only option I am afraid is to search! The Library used to have a wonderful video collection so that is one option. I find that the people I meet on Twitter share many resources, but I have to stay vigilant with bookmarking and organizing so that I can come back to them when I may need them. Of course adult learners can search for and find their own resources perhaps with some parameters. Sometimes the requirement that people bring in their own resources introduces me to new materials that I can incorporate!
Rachelle White
2/4/2017 08:47:53 pm
I also great love the idea of allowing students to invest their time into something that they are interested in. I wrote a bit about the implementation of assigning one topic per week in which students are to find an research article and present what they learned from the topic. Some recent topics included safety and nonsocial infections. It was amazing how many of the students came from various angles of interest and only once did two students have the same article. When the student had the same article interestingly they had some similar and different ideas of expansion of knowledge.
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Heather Marie
2/5/2017 10:03:57 am
If you think about it, it makes sense that we, as adults with diverse interests, backgrounds, experiences, etc., would find different aspects of the same content interesting. I think it's great that you give your students choice and love how it adds to the diversity of discussion around your course content!
Rachelle White
2/5/2017 11:56:08 pm
Paralyzed in the face of choice. This paints such a vivid picture to me as I see nursing learners want the cut dry direction however it is so much bigger than this to care for a patient. Critical thinking is the "glue" that holds nursing care together. Nursing students who struggle with making choices are often found paralyzed on the units when asked what they will do for a specific patient that may have outliers of health concerns and prioritization that may be right on the line meaning more than one or two right answers. I greatly desire to help those students learn how to embrace the thought of choices and learn to reflect and prioritize to make a safe choice with confidence.
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Chelsea
2/3/2017 05:00:53 pm
I have to agree that when I am able to choose what I am learning about I am much more interested in it. If you look for instance at my grades in college. My prerequisites consisted of B's and A's. If you are to look at just my required classes for my degree they are all A's. I think that when we find something that we have a true interest in it is easier to give the time and effort to that topic.
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Mariah Smith
2/4/2017 05:10:06 pm
Honestly, I hadn't really thought about what it means to have Differentiated Instruction for adult learners. In my classes at college, DI looked like options and this is exactly what you have written about. How do you think students can approach professors to begin a student-teacher mutual respect? The reason why I ask because as an adult I would like to have the best education possible and if I see the professor can provide DI and doesn't, I would like to know what I can do. I am not sure if this is even possible but is there a way to convince a professor to provide a different opportunity than another student in the name of learning.
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Heather Marie
2/4/2017 08:02:58 pm
Mariah - Your comment really makes me think about the importance of self-advocacy. Paul D, in Toni Morrison's Beloved, told Sethe, a main character, "You your own best thing." Although I'm maybe taking a few liberties with the context of the novel, there is truth in the idea that we are our own best advocates. We know our interests, our strengths, and our weaknesses intimately and, when we're paying for an education, we want to get the most out of the process. As such, it's important to advocate for ourselves with faculty. In one of my courses last semester, I was able to work with the professor, within the context of the course, to hone in on one very specific topic that I need for my Dissertation. We discussed what that would look like ahead of time, drawing up a contract of sorts, and I was able to accomplish what I needed. But...had I not asked, it never would have happened. I think, if differentiation isn't clear, self-advocacy is a great way to think about why you might want to ask for change.
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Rachelle White
2/6/2017 12:08:43 am
I am going to ask if Prof Lee would speak to the idea of how to approach an instructor. As I am discussing this with Heather Marie I am feeling a little discouraged that tenure and academic freedom may be a large challenge to your desire to approach a professor. Both of my boys are grown and in college one will graduate in May from UAS business and one is in second semester at UAF. I have always told them to approach any teacher when there is something that they do not understand before it becomes a problem. To build a relationship of trust and a show of desire that you do wish to learn the information. I am sad to say that this has not always been effective for them nor some other students that I know. I am not sure if Professors feel threatened, are just over worked, too set in their way, or maybe jaded and lost the vision of why they are teaching. I really don't have the answers however I see students struggle often. I do believe that there are passionate instructors who are just overwhelmed. The fear of litigation in the teaching profession is amazingly sad and could also be an inhibitor to teachers exploring new ideas. Either way when I loose sight of listening and realizing I have lost respect for my students I may need to look for a different profession.
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Lee
2/6/2017 06:41:06 pm
Sadly not all instructors will be open - but many will - perhaps more than we would expect. I would suggest proposing an alternative to a specific assignment - laying out the particulars and then tying in the assessment. This will be far more doable if the instructor has a rubric already developed and shared with the class. I think that in advocating for our own learning styles, most faculty will be fine with alternative assignments if they know that it will meet the same standards. If you have done the work of creating the alternative assignment, then they will be reassured that it isn't that you as a student are trying to AVOID anything - only that you would like to demonstrate the concepts in your best learning style/media.
Lee
2/6/2017 06:47:15 pm
More generally - we should be open to student questions and some faculty unfortunately are more difficult to approach. I didn't have a great deal of success with those faculty in my own experiences. I take that as a life lesson - that sometimes people are helpful and sometimes well, they aren't and as my Doctoral Committee Member Larry Anderson used to say, we must do two things: Leave a Reply. |
Rachelle White
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