Jul 9, 2021
Personalised Education Experiences
They’re the future
Understanding how humans learn is a fundamental aspect of all teaching contexts. If educators and instructors don’t have a firm understanding of the way that people learn most effectively, teaching and learning will stagnate.
Universal Design for Learning
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework offers a structure within which instructors can design engaging and personalised learning experiences for all learners.
Created by non-profit education research and development organisation, CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology), UDL is now used globally with the intention of making learning more inclusive.
The premise that underpins this framework is that educators need to identify and put into action strategies to improve and optimise teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.
How does UDL work?
The instructor is encouraged to think carefully and creatively about how they will engage each student, how they can present the information to be processed in multiple ways and then provide multiple ways of expression for their students.
The ultimate goal for learning and instruction is expert learners that are purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, strategic and goal-orientated:
This supports the stance that high quality instruction will engage the learner and result in effective learning and enjoyment. This could be argued to be relevant to instruction in online and in-person contexts.
The UDL Guidelines have been informed by feedback and research from the field. CAST also state that these guidelines offer a set of suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.
The strategies that are central to UDL all revolve around the premise of offering multiple representations of learning materials including multimedia resources.
This approach increases opportunities for pupil choice, provides flexible formats for all types of learners, uses prior knowledge to scaffold new knowledge and skill acquisition and practice, provide alternatives in the requirements for rate and timing so as not to overwhelm learners and so they can set the pace.
The following are just a few of the strategies that are central to UDL. These can be implemented online and offline, with any age group and for any subject:
- Increase opportunities for pupil choice.
- Ensure that students can identify the relevance of the issue/information of the issue presented to them.
- Provide feedback that is frequent, timely, and specific
- Provide feedback that models how to incorporate evaluation, including identifying patterns of errors and wrong answers, into positive strategies for future success.
- Use real life situations or simulations to demonstrate coping skills.
- Display information in a flexible format so that the perceptual features can be varied (text size & font; the contrast between background and text or image etc)
- Pre-teach vocabulary and symbols, especially in ways that promote connection to the learners’ experience and prior knowledge.
- Embed support for vocabulary and symbols within the text (e.g., hyperlinks or footnotes to definitions, explanations, illustrations, previous coverage, translations).
- Present key concepts in one form of symbolic representation (e.g., an expository text or a maths equation) with an alternative form (e.g., an illustration, dance/movement, diagram, table, model, video, comic strip, storyboard, photograph, animation, physical or virtual manipulative.
- Make explicit links between information provided in texts and any accompanying representation of that information in illustrations, equations, charts, or diagrams.
- Highlight previously learned skills that can be used to solve unfamiliar problems.
- Provide alternatives in the requirements for rate, timing, speed, and range of motor action required to interact with instructional materials, physical manipulatives, and technologies.
- Provide differentiated models to emulate (i.e. models that demonstrate the same outcomes but use differing approaches, strategies, skills, etc.)
- Provide differentiated mentors (i.e., teachers/tutors who use different approaches to motivate, guide, feedback or inform)
- Provide models or examples of the process and product of goal-setting.
There are many more. I would encourage all educators to take a look at this framework in order that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.
Take a look at how I demonstrate one of these simple strategies in action:
UDL and Mayer’s Multimedia Design principles
UDL reflects Mayer’s 15 Principles for Effective Multimedia Design which was published in 2020, offering an additional three principles to those published by Mayer in 2009.
Mayer also points to ‘pre-training’ in order to teach key concepts in advance of a lesson and this notion can also be found in the UDL guidelines which encourage the pre-teaching of vocabulary and symbols, especially in ways that promote connection to the learners’ experience and prior knowledge.
The UDL Guidelines are not prescriptive but do reveal a notion of what effective learning and instruction might ‘look’ and ‘feel’ like.
This is significant as it feeds into the importance of high-quality teaching for effective learning.
It could be argued that when the UDL guidelines are applied they can help to reduce barriers and maximise learning opportunities for all learners.
When instructors are designing online courses for learners in any field of study, the UDL guidelines have the potential to support learners and raise engagement and attainment. The justification of this view can be seen in the impact of the suggested supportive, specific and timely feedback to help guide learners in any revisions and to offer positive encouragement and raise self-esteem and confidence in the learners.
UDL & Accessibility
UDL also advises that information shared with learners should be displayed in a flexible format so that the perceptual features, such as text size and font or the contrast between background and text or image, can be varied. This strategy can provide self-directed support for the learner who can feel empowered by the ability to adjust the learning materials to better suit their needs or preferences.
It could be argued that when a learner feels more in control of their learning experience, they are more likely to feel engaged and this could lead to improved attainment.
UDL & Modelling
Providing models or examples of the process and product of goal-setting are encouraged by UDL to help learners self-regulate, which is an essential component of online learning where learners are required to be more independent as learners than a classroom-only learner.
Providing differentiated models to emulate (i.e. models that demonstrate the same outcomes but use differing approaches, strategies, skills, etc.) and differentiated mentors (i.e., teachers/tutors who use different approaches to motivate, guide, feedback or inform) are also driving principles of UDL which its research-informed creators have highlighted as effective strategies for learning and instruction in all contexts.
UDL & Active Learning
Extensive research has identified that students learn more when they are actively engaged in the classroom than they do in a passive lecture environment.
Online learning has the potential to offer both scenarios. Bonwell and Eison defined strategies that promote active learning as,
‘instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing’
In this respect, active learning requires learners to participate in the construction of their knowledge and understanding.
This higher order thinking demands that learners think about their learning, or involve themselves in metacognition.
This constructivist learning theory identifies that mastery learning will take place when connections are made between prior and new knowledge so that learners can reconstruct their mental models to incorporate their new knowledge and understanding.
Angelo and Cross point to one practical strategy to promote active learning in which learners are asked a question that requires them to reflect on their learning or to engage in critical thinking. Learners are asked to write for one minute and then share their responses to stimulate discussion with the intention being that new connections about the knowledge are formed.
Bloom’s Taxonomy offers a framework to promote active learning using student-generated test questions. Groups of leaners could be asked to create test questions to correspond to the different levels of the taxonomy.
Individualised Instruction
Individualised instruction is the term used to describe a method of teaching that tailors content, mode of instruction and pace to the abilities and interests of the learner.
Based on Swiss biologist and psychologist Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory, individualised instruction promoted greater instructor consideration for the specific traits of individual learners.
Piaget believed that humans create their own understanding of the world. In theological terms, he was a psychological constructivist, believing that learning is caused by the blend of two processes: assimilation and accommodation.
Adaptations made to individualise instruction is hailed by some researchers as far superior to classroom-style group discussion because when instructors vary their style of instruction to best meet the needs of the learner, the learning and knowledge acquisition can be significant.
There are three fundamental variables of individualised instruction:
- Pace (the amount of time given to a student to learn the content)
- Method (the way that the instruction is structured and managed)
- Content (the material to be learned).
When an instructor designs learning experiences for one seemingly homogenous group based on age, the result can be that not all leaners will engage or be able to access and process the materials.
Conversely, when the instructor offers a more flexible learning experience according to the three fundamental variables, specific learner characteristics can be addressed and needs met.
Keller’s Personalised System of Instruction
Keller’s Personalised System of Instruction is based on ten accepted educational principles that promote self-contained and self-paced learning:
1. Active responding
2. Positive conditions and consequences
3. Specification of objectives
4. Organisation of material
5. Mastery before advancement
6. Evaluation/objectives congruence
7. Frequent evaluation
8. Immediate feedback
9. Self-pacing
10. Personalisation
Keller’s Plan has been criticised for issues relating to decreased human interaction however proponents of the System have pointed to higher success rates of individualised learning when the course content is standardised, stable and resources are scarce.
Using Audio
Postlethwait developed another method of individualised instruction in the audio tutorial. His research was driven by a desire to identify an effective method of teaching botany to a large number of college students and to assist those with limited knowledge of the subject.
Students were given access to a recorded presentation that directed their activities in a step-by-step manner. The benefits of such an approach include the control that the learner has over the pace of the delivery of the content and the ability to replay any aspect of the recorded presentation.
Postlethwait found that learners’ responsibility for their own learning increased and the mass audio recording allowed a greater number of learners to access the course without the need for an increased amount of physical teaching and learning space and additional instructors.
This research has been criticised for assuming that all learners would be self-motivated and the fact that the instructor leads all of the content omitting any requirement for discussion. In this sense the instruction is simply a delivery mechanism and does not demand active learning.
Final Thoughts
eLearning has arguably made easier individualised instruction. Not only does online instruction have a far greater reach than in-person classroom instruction, it also offers flexibility (if there are asynchronous aspects to the course) and convenience for the learner.
The individual characteristics of the learner can be considered in the instructional design process. What would limit the instructor’s ability to incorporate learning modes and specific cognitive prerequisites would be a lack or absence of information about each learner ahead of the initial design phase.
Pace is arguably easier for the instructor to consider as videos can be paused, learners can click onto the next slide of a presentation when they are ready and audio can be slowed down or sped up according to the individual need.
Using the aforementioned UDL principles, instructors could pre-empt the challenge of a lack of knowledge about learners’ needs and design multiple iterations of the same content.
There clearly is an associated time and skill challenge for instructors when considering this approach, however thinking ahead to ways in which the didactic transmission modality could be diversified within specified time constraints, skill levels, creative, budgetary and staffing considerations, would foster a culture of individualised instruction.
The Education Endowment Foundation argues that individualised instruction has enjoyed greater success when digital technologies are employed.
The immediate feedback education gamification models offer is a clear example of this.
Arguably individualised instruction serves to democratise education in a way that traditional didactic classroom teaching cannot, and yet there are criticisms of individualised instruction serving best those learners that are already skilled in managing their own learning.
It could be the case that individualised instruction may have the greatest impact when instructor guidelines about tasks are clear, feedback is immediate and personal and clear expectations in terms of time management and tasks to complete by certain dates are proffered.
Individualised instruction is a conduit to the democratisation of education and contributes to the reduction of educational inequalities.
References
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Center for Applied Special Technology, ‘About CAST’. (Last accessed 30.03.2021)
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Edutopia, Golden Rules for Engaging Students in Learning Activities (Last Accessed: 20.04.2021)
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