EDU
697 Capstone: A Project Approach
Latriea
Grant
March
14, 2016
Supporting
the Needs of All Learners
According
to the findings of Evans, Cools, & Charlesworth (2010);
“Recent
research has consistently shown that each student has a different learning
style.”
For the learner
educators must all have the understanding that not all students learn the same.
They must be willing to monitor and adjust when it comes to teaching students.
Each student who enters into their classroom setting will enter with their own
personal story and way of life. One of the goals of the educator must be to
examine the students learning capabilities and work to help the student get
where they need to be. The use of different forms of technology can be one way
educators adapt to learning and fitting the needs of their students.
Importance
of Addressing Different Learning Styles
Students
have different levels of motivation, different attitudes about teaching and
learning, and different responses to specific classroom environments and
instructional practices. The more thoroughly instructors understand the
differences, the better chance they have of meeting the diverse learning needs
of all of their students (Felder, R. M., & Brent, R. 2005). In earlier times students were only able to
learn based on the knowledge of their teachers. In today’s society technologies
such as the internet give students vast varieties of ways to learn. Teachers
are now able to incorporate technology into the class to assist them with
meeting the needs of learners. Teachers are able to create lessons using online
websites, power point presentations, or videos that are accessible online.
Hall, Strangman, & Meyere, 2003 stated;
By
incorporating technology into a lesson, and educator is able to more easily
present the information to the learners using different formats in an attempt
to match the material presentation to the needs of the students.
Original
Lesson: EDU 648
For this assignment students are to work in small groups
to create a business and the steps needed to promote the business. Students
were to designate an Owner, Manager, and two workers. The students would then
give an explanation of how they came to give each person their position with in
the business. Students were to create an essay and a power point as a group
discussing the details of their business and who thought of what. The students
would be given mini lessons at the beginning of each class period. The lesson
would cover each step necessary to have a successful business. The students
would then be able to ask questions or start working on their group project.
Students would be graded as a group based on their participation, presentation,
and project as a whole.
Redesigned
Lesson
The
learner would start by giving students the option to work as a group or work
alone. When working with students, some may like to work alone, rather than as
a group. Students would not be limited to using just power point as their
technology. Students would be allowed to use the technology of their choosing;
laptops, tablets, or IPads to do research on their business. They would then be
able decide whether or not they want to present the information as a written
assignment or as a power point presentation. They will still be given a mini
lesson to discuss what is expected of them and given a tutorial on how their
paper should look. They will also be shown an example of the educators choosing
showing the proper way to create a power point. Students will have an
understanding that they are building their business from the ground up and will
not be able to use the name of a company already being used. Students will have
an outline detailing the steps they are to cover before turning in a final
project.
Challenges
For the learner the biggest challenge in redesigning this
project was deciding to give the students the option to work as a group or to
work alone. For the learner students should learn to work together. Many times
having students work together allows them to communicate with others who they
would normally have no communication with. It gives them the chance to open up
with others and create a line of communication with others. This was
challenging because if there ever was a time that students did not want to
participate in a group activity, the question would then be does the whole
group suffer for one persons’ action?
Conclusion
Educators now have the opportunity to meet the needs of
their students in different ways. The use of different forms of technology can
assist teachers with figuring out what works for each student. Teachers have to
understand that being able to show students more than one way to understand a
topic will always work in their favor. This gives students the chance to not
only see the information in more than one way but to retain the information
better. For the learner the lesson created in the previous course was not very
detailed. However, after going back and reviewing the information the learner
realized that giving students more options allows them to get a better
understanding of what is being asked of them.
References
1.
Hall, T., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A.
(2003). Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL implementation.
Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved
from http://aim.cast.org/sites/aim.cast.org/files/DI_UDL.1.14.11.pdf
2.
Felder, R. M., & Brent, R. (2005).
Understanding student differences. Journal of Engineering Education, 94(1),
57-72. Retrieved from
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Understanding_Differences.pdf
3.
Evans, C., Cools, E., &
Charlesworth, Z.M. (2010). Learning in higher education-how cognitive and
learning styles matter. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(4), 467-478.
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