Differentiated Instruction in Online Environments

Differentiated Instruction in Online Learning Environments: Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences Gail Taylor, M.Ed . University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Candidate [email_address]

Introduction to Differentiated Instruction (DI)
Teaching philosophy that promotes student diversity in
classroom settings
Well-suited for adult learners
Recognizes individual students enter classrooms with different
abilities and motivations
Acknowledges student culture that underlies individual abilities and motivations
Empowers students within boundaries of organizational
structures
University, college, department, program, and classroom levels

Bounded Learning
“ Schools and other institutions, from households
to businesses to cultures, value certain ways
of thinking more than others.” (pg. 8)
“ People whose ways of thinking do not
match those valued by institutions
are usually penalized.” (pg. 8)
Robert Sternberg (2003)
Thinking Styles . New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Student Body before Conditioning– Patchwork Quilt Analogy (Quilt source: www.dorchesterlibrary.org)

Student Body after Conditioning – Double Wedding Ring Quilt Analogy (Quilt source: www.rockymountainquilts.com)

Educational Psychology Foundations
DI integrates what is known about brain development,
constructivist learning theory, and learning styles
Brain development
Brain-based learning and notion of multiple intelligences
Constructivist learning
Students construct knowledge by completing social relation activities and tasks
Learning styles
Audio, kinesthetic and tactile, visual

DI in Practice
Every teacher has adopted DI in one way or another
Different types of assignments, more student choices, extending due dates, etc.
Possible to make classrooms more responsive to students
through intentional and deliberate planning
Reasons, objectives, and goals for choosing a particular action clearly stated
Realizing DI requires reflection on practice
Tracking and monitoring of various materials and procedures on student learning and anticipated outcomes

DI Approaches
Can differentiate instruction by content, process, and/or
product
Content – what is taught
Processes – how something is taught
Products – outcomes of teaching that are assessed to determine student learning
Critical elements are choice, creativity, flexibility, and ongoing
assessment of teacher and student practices and processes
Teacher and/or student initiated assessments

4-Step Process (Source: www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/differentiate/planning/)
Know your students
Ability levels, interests, behavior management issues
Have a repertoire of teaching strategies
Cooperative learning, direct instruction, inquiry-based learning, etc.
Identify a variety of instructional activities
Read a book, write a paper, do a web search, listen to music, go on a field trip, create a blog or wiki as a class project, etc.
Identify different ways to assess student learning and
academic progress
Formative and summative evaluations
Giving students options whether assignments should be graded or completed for credit/no-credit

Targeted Instruction

Introduction to Learning Styles
Audio
Hearing
Voices and other sounds
Kinesthetic and Tactile
Doing and touching
Creating and manipulating objects
Visual
Seeing
Images and other visual cues

Assessing Learning Styles
Learning styles can be assessed by administering
questionnaires and/or having conversations with students
Assortment of questionnaires available on Internet web sites
http://www.usd.edu/trio/tut/ts/stylest.html
University of South Dakota Trio Program
http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/LSI/LSI.htm
Pennsylvania State University
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/vark.htm
University of Hawaii
Available in multiple national languages

Possibly Think the Same but Also Do Things Differently

Broad Categories of Intelligences
Object-related
Controlled and shaped by objects encountered and interacted with in environments
Object-free
Auditory systems (e.g., language, music)
Person-related
Inter- and intra-personal that counterbalance interactions and relationships with others

Introduction to Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner presented the MI theory in 1983
Promotes a cross-cultural perspective of human learning
Believed there were 7 intelligences at the time theory was
formulated
List has now been expanded to include 9 intelligences
Continuing to evolve as teaching practices shift in response to
societal pressures
Also related to advancement of knowledge about human learning processes in different settings

Gardner Intelligence Types
Linguistic
Read, write, communicate
Logical & Mathematical
Patterns, reason, and thinking in a logical manner
Visual & Spatial
Think in pictures and visualization of outcomes
Musical
Make and compose music

Gardner Intelligence Types (Cont.)
Bodily & Kinesthetic
Problem-solving using one’s body
Interpersonal
Good at relating to other people
Intrapersonal
Good at doing self-analysis
Naturalist (new in 1996)
Ability to make distinctions in the natural world and the environment

Assessing Multiple Intelligences
Intelligences can also be assessed by administering
questionnaires and/or having conversations with students
Assortment of questionnaires available on Internet web sites
http://www.accelerated-learning.net/learning_test.html
http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/high/wotc/confli3.htm
http://www.literacyproject.org/DL/MultipleIntelligencesSurvey.htm

Other Emerging Intelligence Types
Successful intelligence – Robert Sternberg
Mental abilities to achieve life goals by adapting to, selection of, and shaping environments
Moral intelligence – Robert Cole and Ernst Haas
Ability to distinguish between right and wrong

Planning for the Future

Concluding Thoughts
Academic institutions are exploring the adoption of various
e-learning technologies (e.g., electronic books, simulations,
text messaging, podcasting, wikis, blogs)
Enhancing personal pedagogical practices is a way for
teachers to become proficient at navigating what Curtis Bonk
and Kyong-Jee Kim have called the “perfect e-storm”
Differentiated instruction is a pedagogical practice that can
assist with determining how best to integrate new
technologies into classroom settings where there are diverse
groups of students

Additional Resources
http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.3adeebc6736780dddeb3ffdb62108a0c/
http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstruc.html
http://differentiatedinstruction.com/
http://www.disabilitystudiesforteachers.org/index.php?id=Differentiated%20Instruction
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/summerworkshop/walker/index.html

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Differentiated Instruction in Online Environments

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