In our previous article, we broke down the definitions and the differences between differentiated instruction and personalized learning. To recap differentiation in the words of fifth grade teacher and doctoral student Holy M. Levy, “The core of differentiated instruction is flexibility in content, process, and product based on student strengths, needs, and learning styles”. One of the best ways to create this flexibility is through the use of technology like Edulastic. Edulastic allows for differentiation of instruction for different types of learners and this article explains 5 ways that you can use it to differentiate learning in your classroom
1. Make your assessments flexible for different learning styles
With over 30 different technology-enhanced question types and various assessment features, Edulastic makes it easy to create assessments that appeal to different learners. Try using question types that you haven’t used before, keeping in mind that some learners are more visual, auditory, reading/writing, or a combination of a few styles. This doesn’t necessarily mean making different assessments for each type of learner; you can make each assessment flexible for different students. For example, try including pictures in your questions in addition to text, appealing to both reading and visual learners. For questions like reading comprehension, include a read aloud option for the auditory learners (premium feature). Also, be sure to allow scratchpad usage for the students who like to write out their process. Or go old school and provide students with pencil and paper to work through problems before they submit an answer.
2. Adjust assessment difficulty for each student or student group
Mrs. Ford from Central Elementary School discussing an assessment with a small group of students as they view their results
Not only can you adjust the style of assessments on Edulastic, but also the difficulty. In the words of Betty Scola, elementary school teacher and media specialist, “With Edulastic, it is easy to make multiple versions of a test and assign to specific students. Students don’t even know that they have an easier or harder test than the student next to them. Also for those students that tend to rush through a test, you have the redirect feature to send it back for them to review. I use the shuffle question option [premium feature] so if students do sneak a peek at another screen, they won’t see the same question and they can’t tell that their test is different.”
The ease of creating and modifying assessments on Edulastic, as well as the feasibility of assigning different assessments to different students, makes this differentiation tactic very possible.
Middle school language teacher Katie Breitholtz seems to think similarly and explains, “I can give the same assignment for 3 different proficiency levels for my students. They can get more immediate feedback from me, and most of my students will ask to redo assignments if they are not happy with their results. The levels in my classroom vary from newcomers with little to no English, to students preparing to transition to general education classes with no native language support.” From here we can see that Edulastic makes it a possibility to teach a classroom of varying student levels without too much extra effort from teachers.
3. Pinpoint students who need more help and give them opportunities to improve
With the instant and detailed feedback that Edulastic provides, it becomes very easy to see where different students are at and identify the ones who may need more help. What you do with this information can range from sitting down and making game plans with students, giving them extra resources, or making extra assessments for them to improve.
8th grade English teacher Mary Long shared, “In my classroom, I created a formative assessment in Edulastic with the 8 most missed questions on a test. Students who had made insufficient progress on the test took the assignment, and then did test corrections on any they missed again. I put in specific comments in the feedback they used to make the corrections. When we took the next quiz, these students did much better.” With Edulastic, it’s easy to assign different assessments to different students or ask specific students to redo assignments or do extra ones.
4. Use Edulastic to enhance group learning
Another way to use the feedback from assessments is to strategically form student groups. Working in groups is an important aspect of differentiated instruction as it provides variation for different types of learners, as talking concepts out and working with others is a style that helps many. As Holy M. Levy suggests, “By grouping students who are kinesthetic, linguistic, and artistic into separate groups, they can demonstrate three distinct ways to solve problems and show how they came to a solution.” Edulastic could then be utilized by making different types of assessments for each of these groups of learners.
Alternatively, another option is to form groups based on differences rather than similarities, pairing strengths and weaknesses together. Joshua Miller, high school math teacher explains that Edulastic has encouraged his students of different levels work very well together. He shared in his spotlight, “Since I began using Edulastic in my classroom, my students have been more motivated to do their classroom assignments… My students work together as a team and do amazing things to keep their peers on the same level as everyone else.” He goes on to say that the stronger students “step up to the plate and guide their peers”, a two-way beneficial process as the weaker ones learn and stronger ones solidify knowledge by teaching.
Mrs. Boehle walking around to answer individual questions while students work on an assessment at Roseville Elementary
Middle school language teacher Katie Breitholtz also uses Edulastic with group work and shares, “I have used Edulastic with my leveled literature circles/book clubs to check comprehension. Within the groups I can even have varying levels as needed.” Assessment feedback can be monitored as a class, for individual students, and also for specific groups of students to see if they need extra help.
5. Create time to meet with students individually
One of the biggest benefits of Edulastic as a whole is freeing up time for teachers to actually spend with their students. Instead of spending countless hours grading tests, teachers can let Edulastic do the boring work and instead spend time with students face-to-face. Also, Edulastic provides an opportunity for teachers to work with students individually while the class is occupied with assessments. Middle school math teacher Anne McCluskey says, “Edulastic allows me to work with students individually, addressing their personal instructional needs, while all students are actively engaged. Students get immediate feedback and I can quickly provide interventions to each students’ specific need.”
Again, this is not a comprehensive list of strategies. With the many types of students out there, it’s hard for teachers to cater to everybody. This is why technology like Edulastic is necessary to make differentiated instruction a reality. The various features as well as the immediate feedback allow teachers to provide more specific, differentiated instruction for all of the different learners in their classrooms. As we’re constantly improving our product, we hope to allow more features in the future that will allow for even more differentiation.
Also interested in personalized learning? Check out this article that shows the difference between personalized learning and differentiated instruction and this article that shares 5 ways to personalize learning in your classroom.
Additional Sources
Holy M. Levy – “Meeting the Needs of All Students through Differentiated Instruction: Helping Every Child Reach and Exceed Standards”