This month, we're excited to share some thoughts and insights from Renee Dawson in our newest Eduporium Featured Educator post! Renee is an education technology specialist in the Atlanta Public School System and she's seen firsthand how shifting from traditional instructional practices to more detailed strategies can truly impact how students learn. One of the biggest areas her and her colleagues have focused on is certainly personalized learning in education. Actively using technology as a tool to help enhance these learning experiences, Renee has designed some unique resources, like choice boards and personalized learning playlists, to help get her students where they need to be!
Renee Dawson
Education Technology Specialist, Atlanta Public Schools, Atlanta, GA
Q&A:
Please share any innovative technology or personalized learning project(s) you've completed with your students or plan to complete.
Personalized learning is a top priority within the Atlanta Public Schools. To support my teachers at Long Middle School, I created a Personalized Learning Playlist for them to use with their classes as they transition from whole-group learning to personalized learning in their classrooms. Basically, they're individualized, digital activity lists that students work through at their own pace to learn, review, or practice content. The playlists offer several options for each step in the learning process so that students can choose what best fits their interests and learning styles. There are also stopping points within each playlist so that students can check in with their teachers. This is an important part of utilizing playlists because teachers can conference one-on-one with students to check for understanding, answer questions, and clarify any confusion they may have.
After students complete each area of the playlist, they mark their progress on a class spreadsheet and move on to the next playlist. This usually happens after the teacher has checked their final product. Also, the last step on the playlists I create is always a student reflection. This allows students to think about their work, celebrate areas of strength, and identify areas of improvement before moving on. Using playlists in the classroom allows teachers to spend more time supporting students who need it most with personal feedback. It also allows for additional practice or remediation whenever necessary, as well as faster paced learning for students who may be more advanced in the subject.
What is a challenge you have faced or are facing with personalized learning?
What STEM resources have you used in your instruction or are in need of?
The biggest challenge with this is teacher buy-in. Most teachers haven't taught this way and it takes some practice to relinquish control of a teacher-paced, lecture-style class. Sometimes, the transition to using playlists looks a little chaotic in the classroom but, once everyone gets familiar with the process, it becomes a beautiful learning environment. When I work with teachers on using playlists in their classroom, I start with having them implement a choice board as a formative assessment instead of a traditional test. Once they are comfortable with that, we move to the playlist.
Some teachers can implement an entire playlist at once and some need to scaffold the introduction by implementing one area at a time. This all depends on the teacher's comfort level with student-centered learning. It's also important that teachers are trained on using the EdTech tools that are part of the playlist, so that they can support students as needed. Also, not every option on the playlist has to be a technology tool. Some can be simple pencil and paper activities. For the playlists I create, however, I focus on EdTech tools I know teachers are comfortable and confident in using.
What are some of the real-world skills you've seen students develop through personalized learning?
How can students apply them in the future?
The students have developed more ownership of their learning and are more engaged in class when using playlists. They're able to support each other with troubleshooting technology and with the learning activities on each playlist. Students become more confident because they can work at a comfortable pace without other students knowing what they're working on. Also, those who learn more quickly or already know the content have the opportunity to expand their knowledge on the current topic before moving on to the next standard or content area.
What interests you most about Eduporium's offerings?
As the EdTech specialist at a school working towards STEM certification, Eduporium's offerings are great for building a STEM program. We're also working on adding esports and robotics programs and Eduporium has great products at good prices that are perfect.
We thank Renee for sharing her experiences and insights with our community, especially her thoughts on personalized learning. We hope these posts continue inspiring other educators with similar classroom goals, challenges, and curiosities to try new instructional technology. If you would like to apply to be our next Eduporium Featured Educator, we're always accepting applications. It takes just a few minutes to fill it out and you'll be in consideration. Feel free to share the application link with any other deserving educator you know as well. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more!