Shifting Focus: Digital Tools and the Student-Centered Classroom

In order to establish efficient and reliable classroom routines and procedures, teachers are usually encouraged to begin implementing those routines and procedures immediately, beginning the first week of class.  I agree that this is generally sound advice, but when establishing a student-centered classroom, the transition may need to be more gradual, especially if the students have little previous experience with self-paced learning. 

As a teacher, I like to start off the year with a brief explanation of my expectations and procedures, and then, jump right in.  I don't like to let students spend a lot of time testing the water.  For me, it is very tempting to address self-paced learning procedures in the same manner.  I want to simply tell the students, “This is what I expect you to do; now do it”.  However, jumping right in may not be the best way to introduce your class to a student-centered paradigm. Even if I, the teacher, have managed to let go of the concept of a teacher-led classroom, the students will likely need time and direction to understand their new role.  For better or for worse, students have likely worked in the past with teachers that worried about students practicing bad habits and have therefore trained students not to work ahead.  After completing a task, these students have been trained to wait (hopefully while doing something quiet and productive) for further instructions.  It can take a lot of positive re-enforcement to change this paradigm now that students and teachers have tools at their disposal that can introduce material and check for comprehension in a self-paced environment.  Teachers must constantly repeat and reinforce their expectations for self-paced learning until students have fully accepted the idea that the expectation to constantly move ahead does not apply to just one activity, one class period, or one unit.  To clearly establish those expectations, it is not enough to merely state and re-state them.  Instead, for the initial few weeks, consider beginning class with a more traditional activity that has all of the students working together and branch off from a large group activity into the individualized activities.  For example, try showing a video clip and holding a class discussion, then have students individually complete a comprehension check.  Based on their performance on the comprehension check, the students can be offered a variety of practice activities that focus on the particular needs of each student.  For example, a student that had difficulty with the vocabulary can work on crosswords and flashcards while a student that understood the terminology but incorrectly applied the conceptual information can view supplementary resources and do application exercises.  A student that performed very well on the comprehension check can either work on enrichment activities or move on to the next concept.  This means that as the year progresses, the whole-class activity will be an introduction of new material for some students, a re-enforcement activity for other students, and a review activity for the most advanced students, but, ideally, the activity should be beneficial for all students.

Another reason to ease into individualized activities is that students may have learned the curriculum material but may not have learned how to use the tools they are expected to use to demonstrate their learning.  Teachers often have the expectation that students are more familiar with technology than they are, but that will not be the case for every application.  Students use different learning tools in every class, and they use those tools in different ways for each class.  Just because you know students have used PowerPoint before, you should not assume they know how to imbed video or audio clips, hyperlink to a non-sequential slide, or even utilize a transition effect.  Before you expect students to use a tool independently, have them complete a directed activity to be sure they are comfortable using that tool.  

Different students will progress through the material at different rates, but it is still necessary to prevent students from getting hung up on a specific topic or skill.  It is equally important to prevent students from racing ahead before they have truly internalized new information.  To address these issues, rather than pushing all of the class content live immediately, I recommend restricting access to two or three modules or topics.  Additionally, I recommend suggesting a range of dates, rather than one specific deadline, for completing each module or topic.  Although it may not occur to students naturally, if it is explained explicitly, most students are capable of understanding that everyone has some concepts that come more easily and other concepts that they take more time to master.  When students realize this, if they finish the work for a particular topic before the final deadline, most students will choose to move forward with their learning rather than risk falling behind their peers if they should happen to find the next concept particularly challenging.

The goal is that both you and the students accept the idea that everyone in the class is at a slightly different place in the curriculum, but that everyone is working to their full potential.  In order to achieve this goal, it is not sufficient for students to understand what they are to do upon finishing an activity; they must also understand what to do if they get stuck.  It is important to have a procedure for working through common problems so that students have a set of steps they can follow before turning to the instructor.  Otherwise, there may be a lot of students doing nothing (or distracting others) while waiting for their turn for assistance.  Consider having students follow a check-list to correct the problem themselves, and if that fails, ask a predetermined partner for help, before turning to the instructor. 

Lastly, realize that collaborative learning and individualized learning are NOT mutually exclusive.   In her discussion of "The Use and Abuse of Technology in the Classroom", Kathy Cassidy suggests using Skype, Twitter, and blogs to allow students to interact directly with experts.  She also suggests that students share their own artifacts digitally.  Digital sharing allows students to collaborate with students from other periods, teachers, or schools.  Students from another class may have received similar information presented differently, and by working together, students from different classes can share different explanations and resources in ways that enhance the learning opportunities for both groups.  When utilizing technology, remember to include a variety of partner and small-group activities.  I urge you to consider making at least one collaborative option mandatory for each unit, and to encourage (or require) students to alternate between similar-ability groups and mixed-ability groups.

It is true that a student-centered classroom may initially appear less organized than a traditional, teacher-directed classroom, but the benefits of allowing struggling students to spend extra time mastering the content before moving on and providing gifted students opportunities to advance and grow should make it worth the juggling act.  By making the transition gradual, individualizing activities based on comprehension checks, allowing students a menu of practice options, using ranges rather than specific dates for deadlines, and encouraging or requiring interaction with both experts and peers, the teacher should be able to verify that the students are engaged in meaningful learning, even if they are not all doing the exact same thing at the exact same time.