In recent years, there's been increasing chatter surrounding the topic of self-paced learning in K-12 classrooms. Self-paced learning helps ensure that students develop proficiency in academic topics or concepts before moving on to the next lesson. It's also referred to as competency-based learning and often related to AVID college prep instructional methods (Advancement Via Individual Determination). Many school and district leaders have actually created positions specifically for programs like this and, as we continue to see some of the benefits of self-paced learning, it’s an important area to focus on. So, this week, we're exploring how educators might implement self-paced learning and what it takes to optimize these strategies.
How Teachers Can Adopt Self-Paced Learning
Self-paced learning is a form of differentiated instruction educators can integrate into learning experiences. Since just about every student learns at a slightly different rate, it’s important for educators to identify which students might need some more help and allow them to take time to work through any potential struggles. It, of course, works the other way as well. Some students finish projects and assignments more quickly than others, which means they can start on the next task earlier. The first thing you might think of is creating assignments and instruction that aim to even things out among students. However, it's tough to build lessons that speed some up while slowing others down so they meet in the middle. Self-paced learning for all students is oftentimes a more effective solution.
Assessing students before beginning.
Some educators might shy away from self-paced learning activities with larger sized classes since, theoretically, it would work better with fewer students. With some accommodations, however, it usually works well in larger classes, too. To introduce this model for those who might be new, self-paced learning often starts with an individual classroom assessment. Teachers can administer pre-tests before beginning new units or chapters to gauge each students’ knowledge on key topics. Using pre-test results, educators can identify skills or concepts students have already mastered and where they need to improve. They can then use this data to differentiate instruction while encouraging everyone to feel comfortable with learning at their natural speed.
How teachers facilitate self-paced learning.
In self-paced learning, teachers can let students decide how many lessons they need and how much practice to give themselves before determining they've mastered something. They should feel comfortable with reading a passage or watching a video as many times as they need before moving on to the assessment portion. That assessment could highlight one particular knowledge area or skill that students can show they’ve mastered by answering questions correctly. After a short mini-assessment, there can be larger assessments that could count for something (or not—up to you). In terms of content, teachers can provide handouts that help students see each concept they should know, questions that align with that concept, what to focus on for mastering it, and practice questions that will help. And, honestly, this is one of the best strategies for getting started with self-paced learning in just about any classroom.
Positive Outcomes of Self-Paced Learning
So, self-paced learning sounds promising but educators, of course, need to know how a model like this would benefit students. When giving self-paced learning a try, teachers need to consider how they’ll allow students to take responsibility for themselves and their work, how to give them opportunities to make decisions about what they work on and for how long, and how to show students that they trust them to do what’s best for how they learn. In self-paced learning, students generally do more thinking for themselves, which is great. Another benefit, however, includes realizing that they still must meet deadlines and expectations while working at their own pace.
How self-paced learning improves the classroom experience.
The ideal outcomes of self-paced learning include students developing a greater sense of independence, choice, and decision making. When they have more say in their learning, students naturally stay engaged for longer periods and the degree of their engagement often improves as well. Some of the other benefits of self-paced learning might come as a surprise but it also allows for more movement and more organization for starters. When learning at their own pace, for example, students are free to get up, gather supplies, look something up, or even just stretch their legs. This movement often helps get their creativity flowing as a byproduct, which could lead to better results. Another benefit is increased organization, which teachers can promote using tiered instruction. This allows them to focus on one task at a time instead of trying to do 10 different things at once.
Results to look for.
Aside from those, self-paced learning also creates relevance, quicker results, personalized feedback, and a boost in student confidence. When students own their learning goals, they can also use technology tools to drive their own learning and free up additional time for teachers to help everyone in the class. As for results, students who traditionally work more slowly on whole-class assignments might finish their independent work more quickly due to the shift in the learning environment—though that’s not a guarantee. With these now quicker results (as long as they show progress), students can build confidence and, whether they initially succeed or struggle, teachers can still provide personalized feedback to further additional achievement.
Designing Self-Paced Learning
There are many educators (and students) who believe learning is best when students work through problems and create content at their own pace. An approach like this helps them focus on specific tasks and connect with how it relates to their growth. In the most effective self-paced learning, assignments should encompass specific learning objectives with smaller, more broken-down steps. Careful determination of the instructional objectives also helps educators determine when students have mastered the concepts. Once they have, they're usually ready to move on to the next project or assignment. Teachers should then check for confirmation of mastery and, if satisfied, allow the student to progress to the next step. Or, if they haven't mastered things, they can regroup and re-evaluate how to help the student achieve mastery.
Identifying students who need support.
When educators or curriculum coordinators are designing self-paced learning experiences, there are some features they should keep in mind. One of those is remembering that both quicker and slower learners should be able to complete assignments and tasks in accordance with their own abilities and as long as learning conditions are realistic. Also, the greater sense of responsibility that students feel as a result of self-paced learning tends to carry over into other areas of their education and lead to both better habits, attitudes, and behavior. When students move at their own pace, teachers can more easily identify who needs attention and give them personal help. It also works well when teachers who integrate self-paced learning make a checklist of elements to highlight or include.
Advancing self-paced learning with intent.
During the planning, rollout, and evaluation phases of self-paced learning, students benefit from certain conditions. Some things to strive for include keeping content relevant and understandable to students with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, identifying students who may need help before the self-paced learning begins, trusting students who show competencies in specific areas to skip ahead, and ensuring that students master cognitive and soft skills before beginning higher level learning. Educators should also make sure students are developing the right attitudes towards subjects and their applications, that they have opportunities to check their own progress, and that they feel comfortable with sharing their learning. Doing these few things (and anything else you'd like) should help self-paced learning move forward in your classroom.
Self-Paced Learning Not Self-Taught Students
Many teachers have found success with self-paced learning but it takes the correct approach to do so. As this title suggests, there's a big difference between students learning at their own pace and teaching themselves. Going at their own pace is great, especially in certain situations, but educators should never expect students to completely teach themselves concepts. content or skills. Some students might argue that they prefer the self-teaching method, but that’s not what we’re trying to promote either. Though self-teaching can still work well, we don’t necessarily believe it belongs in the classroom. Self-paced learning, however, is great for student-centered or long-term projects. There's many reasons for this but it's mainly because teachers can better meet student needs and help them increase achievements.
How teachers should affect self-paced learning.
Self-paced learning still requires a good amount of pedagogy and, more importantly, effective pedagogy. This means that, in addition to self-paced instruction, teachers also need to do a lot of planning before implementation. One common misconception is thinking that, since students are learning content or curriculum at their own pace, they are supposed to learn it entirely on their own as well. Clearly, that would be self-teaching, which is very different from self-paced learning. Educators who have tried self-paced learning argue that there should be more teaching going on rather than less. Teachers are still teaching and they’re teaching all the time. If they're not teaching content, they're teaching soft skills and, if it’s not soft skills, it’s other related life lessons. But, first and foremost, they still must teach the necessary content—just at the preferred pace of each student.
Providing feedback and custom instruction.
The biggest thing for teachers in self-paced learning is that they may have 20-30 unique teaching experiences rather than one for the whole class. As students work on assignments independently, teachers need to provide each of them with consistent feedback while, of course, focusing more on any students who need extra attention. The personal interactions teachers have with students throughout self-paced learning experiences are probably the most powerful aspect of the endeavor. These interactions can help alleviate implementation issues and provide educators with a clearer sense of what each student needs. It takes hard work for teachers to ensure they meet every students' needs but the payoff can be phenomenal. Ideally, students will see that, by not doing too much or too little, they can progress at their own pace.
Self-Paced Classroom Logistics
There are two main underlying ideas that capture the essence of self-paced learning. The first is that students are allowed to move on to the next batch of content once they’re ready to do so—without having to wait for the teacher or the rest of the class. The other is that students should have access to all of the content they need in order to master it. These include reading materials, practice problems, and other resources so they don’t have to stop to ask teachers for anything. After meeting these needs, teachers can address other logistics to make the self-paced learning experience flow more smoothly. We’re going to pitch a handful of ideas below and purposefully leave some others out. There’s nothing that teachers are absolutely required to do and nothing they should completely avoid. It all comes down to what works best.
Setting deadlines and delivering content.
To keep self-paced classes organized throughout an entire unit (or school year), here are some logistics to consider. One of the most important is creating unit pacing guides and checklists for students. Referencing these, students will know which order to complete certain parts of assignments without needing instructions on what's next. Educators also need to set and communicate deadlines so students learn how to be accountable for their responsibilities. Setting mini deadlines for the end of each week, for example, can help students identify the key things to accomplish. As for instruction, educators should determine how their students prefer to receive content. Some might like reading it, others might like watching videos, and there might be some others who learn best with educational videos teachers create themselves!
Monitoring student progress in self-paced learning.
Teachers should also consider how they’ll have students practice the content—worksheets, online exercises, hands-on activities, or something else. They’ll also need a routine for checking student work, which could include checking everything once students complete it or providing an answer key for students to reference once they’re all done. In any case, teachers always need to be on top of monitoring student progress. Just because they’re completing work, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re learning all they need to know. Finally, for assessing students, teachers can still give tests but they don’t have to take them until they're ready. If they're administering tests to different students on different days, teachers will just need to figure out where to send different groups. They may also create multiple versions to make sure every student is learning and not overwhelmed with the pace.
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