Not all students succeed in a one-size-fits-all classroom. Children have different experiences, strengths, challenges, and backgrounds that educators need to be able to recognise when they’re creating learning activities, content, and spaces. Personalised learning is a teaching practice that takes these aspects into consideration. It helps teachers support students in the ways that best meet their needs by setting up different pathways for students to experience learning. A key component in developing personalised learning is using technology such as a learning management system (LMS) that puts teachers in the driver’s seat and helps them individualise teaching.
In this blog, we look at four ways to personalise learning for student growth with D2L Brightspace™.
1. Create Unique Learning Experiences
Personalised learning customizes activities and delivery methods to students’ individual knowledge and interests so each can be given what they need to succeed. With Brightspace, for example, teachers can use Release Conditions to help provide additional support for students who may be struggling with a concept or to automatically surface enrichment opportunities for high performers.
Brightspace can also help individualise the learning journey with merit-based awards, badges, and certifications that students unlock as they progress through learning materials. An educator might create a badge that’s based on perfect attendance or posting a certain number of discussion posts in the first month of a course. If the requirements aren’t met, teachers can also use Brightspace to send automated reminders that provide a helpful nudge to keep students on track.
2. Provide Individualised Support
To create a personalised learning environment, teaching practices need to meet the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional needs of all learners.
On a basic level, this means using tools such as an LMS that is compatible with assistive technologies, supports web accessibility standards, and is easy for students to navigate and understand. Built into Brightspace is the Accessibility Checker, a feature that’s designed to help catch common accessibility issues on static HTML content and offer suggestions to help fix them on the spot. For students needing additional support, teachers can provide Special Access to allow extended deadlines for assignments, surveys, or quizzes.
3. Personalise Feedback
Feedback is a central component in a personalised learning environment but giving individualised feedback on every action students take often isn’t feasible. Brightspace helps educators scale and provide immediate feedback to one or more students by:
- sharing individualised feedback on student submissions with rubrics, text, videos, audio, or attachments
- annotating document submissions inside of a course without having to download anything
- connecting seamlessly with students for live discussions, office hours or classes with integrated video tools if further discussion is required
It’s important to remember that giving students feedback in a personalised classroom is more than telling them “job well done.” Rather, it’s an ongoing process of assessment, communication, and adjustment to support students on their academic journey.
4. Support Action Through Metrics
While there are many ways personalised learning can be implemented in a classroom, it can’t be done without the use of metrics. A robust LMS should provide educators with insights into class progress so they can effectively track learners’ overall growth, completion of learning objectives, engagement with content, and more.
For example, with Brightspace’s Mastery View educators can scan the overall level of comprehension of a learning outcome across all students. This can help them identify those students who are struggling or potentially at risk and intervene to give them the support that can help them succeed.
But it’s not enough to provide only educators with key metrics. Students also need to be able to see how they’re progressing in a course so that they can understand where they are now and what they need to do to achieve their goals. With Brightspace’s Class Progress tool, students can view their grades for a specific assignment or quiz along with their file submissions and feedback.
Every student learns in their own way and has certain needs, interests, and challenges. Personalised learning as a teaching practice recognises these differences and works to set students up for success. The four steps outlined above cover the fundamentals of personalised learning and help educators design educational experiences with student needs in mind.
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K-12 Guide to Educational Growth
Written by:
Product Marketing Manager
Paige O’Grady is a Product Marketing Manager at D2L, specializing in the education space. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, specializing in Marketing and Brand Communications.
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