In today’s classroom, meeting the diverse needs of students requires educators to leverage current technology that facilitates differentiated instruction. These tools empower teachers to address individual learning styles, readiness levels, and interests, helping students take ownership of their learning and preparing them for 21st-century skills.
- EdPuzzle
- Brief Description: Edpuzzle allows teachers to embed questions into videos, transforming passive watching into interactive learning (EdPuzzle, n.d.). It enables teachers to track student progress and understanding.
- Ease of Use and Practicality: Teachers can easily edit and customize video content by adding questions, making it practical for flipped classroom models. Videos can also be viewed in "live mode" which allows teachers to project the video and pauses it automatically when there is a question to allow students to answer on their own device.
- Cost: Free, with premium features available.
- User Friendliness: Teachers can monitor student understanding through embedded quizzes. Students can replay sections of videos as needed. Teachers have access to tools that allow them to disable the ability for students to "skip" or fast-forward through video content.
- Cross-Curricular Ability: Edpuzzle is applicable across subjects, especially for video-based learning in science, history, and language arts.
- Differentiation: By embedding questions, teachers can adjust videos for student readiness, and the platform supports visual and auditory learners. Closed-captioning is available on many of the videos.
- Instructional Strategies:
- Flipped Classroom: Use videos as pre-class assignments to free up in-class time for hands-on activities.
- Formative Assessment: Questions embedded in videos provide immediate feedback.
- Canvas
- Brief Description: Canvas is a cloud-based LMS that allows educators to create, manage, and deliver courses online. It includes a variety of tools for course creation, assignment management, grading, communication, and analytics. This LMS seems to be very similar to the Halo LMS that we use for our online classes with GCU.
- Ease of Use and Practicality: Canvas is designed with a clean interface that simplifies navigation. Teachers can easily create modules, post assignments, and set up discussions, while students can access materials and submit work with minimal confusion. Integration with other educational tools such as Google Docs makes it practical for a variety of learning environments.
- Cost: Canvas operates on a subscription model, typically paid for by districts. Individual pricing is generally not available to teachers directly.
- User Friendliness:
- For Teachers: Canvas offers a wide range of tools that simplify course design and student interaction.
- For Students: The platform is designed to be user-friendly, with dashboards that allow students to track assignments, grades, and course materials. Mobile access through the Canvas app also enhances user convenience.
- Cross-Curricular Ability: Canvas is flexible and can be used across any subject or grade level. Teachers can incorporate various content types, including videos, quizzes, discussion forums, and peer review, allowing it to serve diverse curricular needs.
- Differentiation: Canvas by Instructure (n.d.) boasts that it offers "equitable learning experiences for all students." It supports differentiation by offering tools that allow teachers to customize the learning experience for students with different readiness levels, interests, and learning styles.
- Readiness: Teachers can assign different tasks based on students’ current knowledge and abilities. Advanced learners can be directed to more challenging assignments, while struggling students can receive remediation materials.
- Interest: Canvas allows for content customization, enabling teachers to provide students with learning resources that align with their interests.
- Learning Styles: Canvas caters to different learning styles by offering diverse formats for content delivery. Visual learners benefit from video lectures and infographics, while auditory learners can listen to podcasts or audio recordings. Kinesthetic learners can engage with interactive elements like simulations or drag-and-drop quizzes.
- Instructional Strategies:
- Blended Learning: Canvas facilitates the integration of online and face-to-face instruction. This model works well for differentiated learning environments, where students can engage with content at their own pace before applying concepts in class.
- Flipped Classroom: Teachers can use Canvas to post instructional videos, articles, or interactive lessons that students access outside of the classroom. This allows for class time to be dedicated to hands-on activities or small group instruction, ensuring that each student receives the support they need.
- Immersive Reader:
- Brief Description: Immersive Reader is a Microsoft tool designed to improve reading and comprehension for learners by providing customizable reading experiences. This tool helps students by enhancing text accessibility through features such as text-to-speech, word highlighting, grammar assistance, translation, and other visual aids (Microsoft, n.d.). It is integrated into Microsoft products.
- Ease of Use and Practicality: Immersive Reader is user-friendly, requiring no special technical skills to operate. With just a few clicks, students can enable features that improve their reading comprehension.
- Cost: Immersive Reader is available free of charge with Microsoft products (like Word), which are already widely used in schools.
- User Friendliness:
- For Teachers: Immersive Reader requires minimal setup. Teachers can use it to ensure that all students, including those with special needs or language barriers, have access to the same instructional content.
- For Students: Students find Immersive Reader easy to use, with features such as text-to-speech and adjustable text size enhancing readability. Students with dyslexia, ADHD, or other learning disabilities benefit significantly from the customizable features that improve focus and reduce cognitive overload.
- Cross-Curricular Ability: Immersive Reader can be used across all subjects and all grade levels to support students in engaging with and understanding content.
- Differentiation:
- Readiness: Immersive Reader allows students at different readiness levels to engage with the same content by adjusting the way it is presented.
- Interest: Immersive Reader’s customizable features, such as font size, background color, and text spacing, allow students to tailor the reading experience to their preferences.
- Learning Styles:
- Auditory Learners: Text-to-speech functionality allows auditory learners to listen to the text being read aloud, improving comprehension through sound.
- Visual Learners: Customizable text formatting, such as color contrast, font size, and line focus, helps visual learners better process information.
- Kinesthetic Learners: Students can manipulate the text in real-time, actively controlling features like text size, focus mode, or grammar markings to interact more deeply with the reading content.
- Instructional Strategies:
- Flipped Classroom: Teachers can provide reading assignments in advance using Immersive Reader, allowing students to engage with the material at their own pace.
- Differentiated Reading Assignments: Teachers can assign the same text to all students while using Immersive Reader to scaffold support for students who need it.
Canvas promotes learning by providing a structured platform for students to access course materials, participate in discussions, complete assignments, and receive feedback. Features like quizzes, multimedia content, and personalized learning paths engage students with varied learning styles. Canvas encourages ownership of learning by allowing students to track their progress through real-time grade updates and assignment deadlines. Its self-paced structure empowers students to manage their own schedules, making them accountable for their own learning.
Immersive Reader promotes learning by enhancing text accessibility, offering tools like text-to-speech, grammar support, and translation. These features cater to diverse learners, especially those with reading difficulties or language barriers. It promotes ownership by allowing students to customize their reading experience—adjusting text size, background color, and line focus to suit individual preferences. This autonomy fosters responsibility, as students control how they engage with reading materials and adapt them to meet their needs.
References
- EdPuzzle. (n.d.). EdPuzzle | Make any video your lesson. Edpuzzle. https://edpuzzle.com/getting-started
- Instructure. (n.d.). Canvas by Instructure: LMS for K-12 teachers and students. Instructure. https://www.instructure.com/k12/products/canvas
- Microsoft. (n.d.). Immersive Reader product guide. Microsoft Learn. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/educator-center/product-guides/immersive-reader/
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