Differentiated Learning
A couple things I already do in my teaching which meet the elements of differentiated instruction:
Several elements and materials are used to support instructional content...access to the content is seen as key. I try to use a variety of sources of information for my students. In addition, I try to have several "access points" for all the information: in class, online through school grading program, online at class Moodle site. Another thing I try to do it have the outline and presentation materials for the upcoming chapter available in advance. Then students can go online and fill in the outline before coming to class. Likewise, they could choose to simply listen during class (or just jot down the highlights), and then access the materials online later to fill in the outline or study materials.
Clarify key concepts and generalizations. One thing I do for my Anatomy and Physiology students is provide a "Unit Overview" sheet for each body system we cover. This sheet has a list of key concepts, focus areas, and learning objectives for that particular body system. It also has a list of due dates for the unit and further instructions/details for particular assignments.
Diverse Learning
Prentice Hall Interactive Textbook: I think that I may have stumbled on that website at some previous time, but I forgot about all the cool stuff that is on this site. I use a companion site frequently in my Anatomy & Physiology class. But this biology site has animations, links to other references, self-tests, and other activities. These would make excellent study materials for a student who sort of understands the materials, but really needs more time to process and practice.
Universal Design for Learning
One of the resources I found on the Universal Design for Learning: Strategies, Tools, and Resources wiki was the "100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner." This was such a cool list! I recognized a few of the resources on the list as things that I already use. But there were so many resources on the list that looked like they would be very helpful for my students. For instance, under the "Interaction" heading, I visited "Flashcard Machine" and set up an account. I also checked out Quia and Quizlet. Some of my anatomy & physiology students are really struggling with ways to study. I think these flashcards would be GREAT for them to access. We've talked about Quizlet in class before, but I think that if I actually showed them some flashcards, that might be the impetus some need to actually go there and try it out. I could even make it an ongoing assignment for some students to create flashcards that are individualized for our class for each unit. That would be a fantastic resource for my students!
Text-to-Audio Conversion
A couple things I already do in my teaching which meet the elements of differentiated instruction:
Several elements and materials are used to support instructional content...access to the content is seen as key. I try to use a variety of sources of information for my students. In addition, I try to have several "access points" for all the information: in class, online through school grading program, online at class Moodle site. Another thing I try to do it have the outline and presentation materials for the upcoming chapter available in advance. Then students can go online and fill in the outline before coming to class. Likewise, they could choose to simply listen during class (or just jot down the highlights), and then access the materials online later to fill in the outline or study materials.
Clarify key concepts and generalizations. One thing I do for my Anatomy and Physiology students is provide a "Unit Overview" sheet for each body system we cover. This sheet has a list of key concepts, focus areas, and learning objectives for that particular body system. It also has a list of due dates for the unit and further instructions/details for particular assignments.
Diverse Learning
Prentice Hall Interactive Textbook: I think that I may have stumbled on that website at some previous time, but I forgot about all the cool stuff that is on this site. I use a companion site frequently in my Anatomy & Physiology class. But this biology site has animations, links to other references, self-tests, and other activities. These would make excellent study materials for a student who sort of understands the materials, but really needs more time to process and practice.
Universal Design for Learning
One of the resources I found on the Universal Design for Learning: Strategies, Tools, and Resources wiki was the "100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner." This was such a cool list! I recognized a few of the resources on the list as things that I already use. But there were so many resources on the list that looked like they would be very helpful for my students. For instance, under the "Interaction" heading, I visited "Flashcard Machine" and set up an account. I also checked out Quia and Quizlet. Some of my anatomy & physiology students are really struggling with ways to study. I think these flashcards would be GREAT for them to access. We've talked about Quizlet in class before, but I think that if I actually showed them some flashcards, that might be the impetus some need to actually go there and try it out. I could even make it an ongoing assignment for some students to create flashcards that are individualized for our class for each unit. That would be a fantastic resource for my students!
Text-to-Audio Conversion
I tried the VozMe program with some text, but I found it very difficult to understand the speaker. So, I installed NaturalReader and found that much easier to understand. I have had a number of students over the years that have had reading and writing difficulties. I know that school owns several copies of Dragon NaturallySpeaking software (which I also personally own--invaluable for transcribing dissertation interviews!!), but I don't know if they have some sort of reading software. I would assume they do... I think that this would be another way for students to be able to hear what they are learning--adding to the learning styles and hopefully improving how they learn.
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