“Personalized Website Design for Differentiated Instruction: Emerging Research and Opportunities”
Personalized Website Design for Differentiated Instruction: Emerging Research and Opportunities
What should educators know to create their own websites?
Congcong Wang
Languages and Literatures
University of Northern Iowa
This book is licensed CC BY 4.0. Ebook version is available at: https://manifold.open.umn.edu/projects/website-design
Acknowledgments
I'd like to especially thank my copyeditor Brandon Hallmark for quick edits whenever needed. In this 2-year book development process, Brandon has made himself available to make broad suggestions and edits whenever a draft needed to be edited. He has gone through draft after draft and given insightful editorial feedback to improve the content of this book. I sincerely appreciate his effort during the days and the nights as well as his insights, knowledge, and expertise.
My appreciation also goes to Patrick Markovich for his detailed comments and copy edits to improve the content of the book.
Finally, I'd like to thank all the loyal readers, educators, and students who have devoted their time to reading this book. Your open-mindedness in sharing your successful teaching and learning practices, as well as challenges encountered in the digital age have been a great motivation in the process of writing this book. I am truly grateful for all your contributions in this emerging and ever-changing field. Thank all of you for providing ongoing feedback, your revisions have improved the state of this book throughout the drafting process. Your challenges as teachers and students facing a drastically changing world motivate me to explore the unknown and seek solutions for a better teaching and learning environment.
About the Author
Dr. CongCong Wang (Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Technology, Washington State University) is an editor, researcher, translator, bilingual writer, and online course developer. She is the editor-in-chief of the Handbook of Research on Foreign Language Education in the Digital Age and the lead of the Chinese Language Teachers Association USA--EdTech SIG. She has a master’s degree in Bilingual/ELL Education and B.A. in English. Her research focuses primarily upon computer-assisted language learning, cross-cultural psychology, and teachers’ awareness of development and cultural studies. Her qualitative and quantitative research has appeared in the International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. She presents regularly at conferences such as ACTFL, NCOLCTL, CLTA, and NAR bicentennial. Across the United States and China, she has developed a variety of technology-enhanced face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses offered in synchronous and asynchronous formats for four universities and over 10 programs. She has taught a wide array of university courses, including Beginning to Advanced Chinese language, culture, literature, media, history, and instructional technology, as well as EFL/ESL education at the K-12 level. At the University of Northern Iowa, she relishes working with her colleagues in Languages and Literatures. In addition to academic publications, she has also published short stories in Chinese, traditional and digital art works, a children’s book, and translations. With an interest in bridging cultures and introducing Asian artists to western audiences, she has performed many Chinese-English translations of international research projects, poetry, interviews, documentaries, commercials, and non-profit organizations. She reviews translated poetry for the North American Review, the oldest literary magazine in the United States. She enjoys her collaboration with diverse researchers on international research projects and technology-assisted learning programs for student-athletes, migrant students, preservice teachers, and international scholars.
Preface
How do technological innovations and diversity impact each other? Human society is always changing, and more recently, has moved towards a more open and inclusive global community. This communities' different voices, opinions, and perspectives are seeking outlets, while potential audiences are seeking to learn new ideas that may sparkle, inspire, and influence them. Compared to any previous generation, the current digital age features technological innovation that constantly changes people's life as well as the way they teach and learn. These trends bring great challenges to educators; in a way, teachers become like students updating their knowledge to keep up with the pace of technology. Teachers need to be open to learning new tools but also be aware of the issues brought by this innovation. It is important for educators to develop new skills, learn new technologies, and adopt these new tools and methods strategically into their instruction.
This book goes through the historical background of social-technological development and then switches to focus on how technology can be used for personalized learning. It proposes a technology-enhanced personalized learning model and further discusses specific strategies and methods that teachers can use to teach and facilitate student's learning. This book also introduces a series of design principles regarding how to develop an engaging, inclusive, and diverse virtual learning community.
However, a well-designed platform does not mean an effective learning outcome. How to differentiate instructions on the web is an important question facing many educators. From a teacher's perspective, this book redefines teachers’ roles in the digital age as a creator of knowledge and learning methods as well as a technology expert connecting individual students to the most effective strategies and resources. They also must learn to manage their time for meaningful tasks such as tailoring personalized strategies online. Rather than training teachers in traditional schooling, this is the new meaning of teaching in the digital age. Finally, the book calls for more teaching implications, feedback, and research exploring issues in regard to this technology-enhanced personalized learning model and differentiated instruction on the web.
As the author of this book, I hope that you find it interesting and useful to your teaching, website development and research. Hopefully, this book can open your mind to how to teach the ever-changing and future generation raised in the digital age. I hope you find it helpful to create a personalized website of your own and engage the new generation of learners and catch this vehicle of technological innovation. I hope this book makes your teaching more effective, efficient, and enjoyable.
Introduction
What should educators know to create their own websites?
Compared with previous decades, today’s technology has changed how people learn, socialize, and communicate. Technology is a vehicle which allows teachers and learners to reach their teaching and learning destination faster. For example, technology has increased teachers’ productivity, creativity, and efficiency, as well as students’ learning outcomes, classroom engagement, and ways of learning. It has not only changed the landscape of the classroom but also the ways knowledge is delivered and processed at such a faster pace than ever before. Using technology as a vehicle allows teachers to engage students in learning at any time, in any location, and at any pace.
With revolutionary innovations, teachers and learners are in a fast-paced learning environment where they have to constantly keep up with the pace of technological innovation. Text-to-animation software, mobile learning apps, social media, online chat rooms, and many other technologies are rapidly changing our lives. Today’s educators have access to a flourishing array of learning options and tools daily for them to use. These tools allow teachers to do incredible things from creating an interactive and dynamic classroom that breaks the physical barriers separating different classes of students to reaching out to the global community. Technologies adopted in education allow free communication across cultures.
However, technology also has downsides that educators need to be aware of. The digital divide is enlarging the gap between the rich and the poor, creating new elites and the digital disadvantaged. Over reliance on social media over mobile devices, laptops, and tablets also creates an isolated generation who tend to turn to the Internet for solutions over interpersonal communication. Addiction to video games brings psychological and behavior issues to teenagers.
Alongside consistently updating technological knowledge as innovations continue, educators must keep up with the pace of the problems created by the technological revolution. With the emergence of a new digital era across traditional school education, how do we as educators take advantage of technological innovations to engage our students in learning in a creative and effective way?
This book explores new trends of current and popular tools teachers can use to develop an engaging, inclusive, diverse online learning community to allow different voices, opinions, experiences, and perspectives to be expressed, shared, and learned through this virtual learning platform.
From a global learning context, chapter 1 opens a discussion on how technology has made a difference in how people learn across history. By not merely focusing on current evolutions, but by tracing back to past technological evolutions, teachers can gain insights on the connection between technology and diversity from a global historical perspective.
Reflection on history helps educators gain a global picture of our current society as well as how the digital advance drives our current education. Through a global picture of how technology has affected human society and communication over time, this chapter helps readers think about how technology affects students' learning.
Therefore, teachers are not blind digital followers but critical and independent thinkers, analysts, and decision makers.
By deepening our understanding of technologic trends, this book further explores what these new trends mean in terms of how educators may rethink teaching and learning to keep up with the pace of technology and a changing society. Chapter 2 proposes the concept that diversity serves as a motivator of technological innovation over history and technological innovation today. In turn, technology promotes diversity through creating opportunities for virtual learning communities. Technology enables the connection and engagement of world learners across the globe by breaking down the physical barriers of classroom walls and traditional schooling. It further pushes education to innovate and adapt to a changing group of world learners and the global learning environment.
Under this background, personalized learning becomes vital and popular. From a perspective of learning styles and diversity, Chapter 2 introduces what technologies are currently available for teachers to tailor and design personalized learning in a virtual environment. This chapter discusses teachers’ concerns such as: “Without expertise in technology, how can educators develop skills and engage students in a digital age?”; “Short of budget and teacher labor, what strategies and programs can teachers adopt to increase productivity and learning outcomes without increasing budget and workload?”; “What are the main principles in developing an engaging, inclusive and individualized virtual learning community?”. Chapter 2 proposes a technology-enhanced personalized learning model and a new style of teaching for learners in the digital age.
In the digital age, teaching is no longer about involvement of teacher labor and knowledge but more about how to engage the new generation of learners in a creative and smart way. Based on the model and design principles, Chapter 3 introduces specific technologies for educational use such as social media, games, mobile apps, websites, video editing software, and digital devices (e.g., cameras and video cameras). Increased accessibility of these technologies to ordinary people has greatly changed how people learn as well as benefited the creation of new learning approaches and models. This chapter explores what roles diversity plays, how technological innovation might provide a solution to previous issues and concerns as well as how these new technologies can be strategically used to increase teachers’ productivity while reducing their workload. This chapter also challenges teachers to rethink their teaching to increase students’ learning outcomes.
Focusing on “How to teach smartly and creatively,” Chapter 3 dives deeper into the details of how technology serves diversity and seeks a solution of personalized language learning. Specifically, how to adopt a new learning model and a package of technologies coming into play in a teaching and learning environment. This chapter provides a review on literature, strategies, as well as educational applications. Discussing design principles, this chapter goes into details about specific technologies teachers may use to develop an online open learning community. This learning platform helps engage students at any time, any place, and any pace. It describes the concept of having students come together as a community across the globe. It also emphasizes that individual learners are contributors to this learning community and each other’s learning by sharing their learning experience and resources through this educator-developed platform.
This chapter develops a model which features a learning hub for world learners to connect to each other and contribute to each other’s learning in a meaningful way. This chapter provides the principles and framework regarding how to develop such a community as well as specific strategies of how to do it and what tools can be used.
A platform may be useful for self-exploratory learning and self-motivated learners. It may not be effective without a teachers’ guidance and supervision down the road. Humans are social creatures, and they learn through interaction and seek external motivators. The teacher’s role is crucial in the digital age despite the replacement of teacher labor in many aspects of technology. Built on the concept with a different angle on what teachers can do in utilizing this platform in their instruction, Chapter 4 aims to redefine teachers’ roles in a technology-enhanced personalized learning environment. Chapter 4 introduces how to differentiate instructions, so students and worldwide learners do not just share resources on this platform but also practice and develop skills under guidance and meaningful instructions tailored to their individual needs. Differentiated instructions on the web scaffold diverse students through this virtual learning community. Video gamers, bloggers, and Internet surfers not only rely on their own effort to find solutions but may get individualized instructions from an expert to facilitate their learning when needed. This chapter also prepares teachers to effectively teach students so they know how to use those tools developed to engage students through this learning community in a meaningful way.
Chapter 5 provides several examples and studies to further help teachers visualize how technology-enhanced personalized learning models work in teaching and learning. Readers can see how design principles and pedagogy of differentiated instruction is utilized in real teaching practice. It provides some examples of how this model is used in classrooms, provides suggestions for teachers regarding how they might apply it to their own classrooms, and points out directions for future research.
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1
Throughout history human societies have always been diverse. Geographical distance and natural barriers such as mountains, deserts, and rivers separated different societies, leaving some civilizations to develop in isolated continents over thousands of years. Limited transportation and communication tools also created barriers for human communication. Attempts to reach out to other cultures never end. Curiosity motivates different cultures to invent new technologies to make travel faster and communication easier.
From a global historical perspective, this chapter analyzes the trends of linguistic and cultural diversity as well as how these trends motivate people to develop new technologies to bridge the gap between civilizations. In turn, Technological Revolutions provide more options and opportunities for learners. Modern technology such as phones and the Internet shortens the distance between people living in the opposite hemispheres. Smartphones and social media have further extended socialization from face-to-face interaction to a virtual community. These innovations and emerging trends have significantly reshaped our society because of their rapid increase in speed, quantity, and variety.
How can educators keep up with the pace of technological innovation and the social changes afterward? It begins with an understanding of what is going on with our society and learners. With the insight of history, particularly the power driving our society's progress, educators develop knowledge of how our current society functions and predict potential directions it might go by developing a vision and tailoring strategies based on influential factors. The next step is to become aware of what technologies are available for teaching and develop relevant skills. This means finding out the potentials, benefits, shortcomings, and issues of new technologies. It also means that teachers need to understand their new roles in the digital world, redefine the terms “teacher” and “student”, and the relationship between them in the digital age. Teachers need to understand today’s students in how they socialize, learn, and process information before they can effectively make new strategies to meet the younger generation’s needs and thus keep up with the pace of technological innovation. All of these tools will prepare teachers to increase their productivity, creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness in fulfilling the teacher’s role in the digital age.
History provides the insights of social evolution. From history people can summarize patterns, principles and thus predict the potential effect of technology. Such understanding is crucial not only to analyzing existing patterns but also guiding future research, technological innovation, curriculum design, educational activities, and instruction. The second half of this chapter overviews the development of technology in the past decades. The first and second Technology Revolutions have changed our societies in a fundamental way. Comparatively, the field of technology-enhanced learning is quite young. However, there have never been so many innovations coming out daily than any previous era in history. From the giant computer to desktop PC, from DOS systems to interactive Internet, from programming languages to website builders, technologies are evolving up in their variety, quantity, and speed. This chapter ends with a review of what is available and how to apply them to serve diverse learning needs.
Chapter 2
Technological innovation and diversity tend to develop side by side and influence each other. This chapter explores how today’s technological innovation makes personalized learning possible by acquiring, mastering, and creating knowledge in contrast to traditional classrooms.
A review of literature in personalized learning provides a definition of this term, its features, benefits, and its development. It explores how technology enables and enhances personalized learning and shifts learning patterns in the younger generation who have been immersed and raised in the digital age.
Personalized learning in the past was more focused on traditional face-to-face teaching or small group tutoring. This chapter further explores why now, compared to any previous stage of society, modern technology allows educators to implement personalized learning on a large to global scale which was not possible decades ago. After analysis and discussion on recent trends, this chapter proposes a technology-enhanced personalized learning model to not only reveal new patterns of how people learn, but also help educators to adapt it in their own teaching practice.
Chapter 3
As one of the most important innovations, the Internet connects people all together across the globe by overcoming geographic barriers and making information circulation immediate. The Internet is the most influential tool in modern life, as so many activities are done on the Internet. In some ways, it takes a big portion of human interaction and socialization. Educators need to observe new behaviors, summarize emerging patterns, and develop strategies according to new learning needs.
In the past, people who mastered programming languages were able to develop a website. Through coding, they expressed their ideas on the Internet. This narrow path of expression in the virtual world disadvantaged the majority who had no training in computer languages, including many educators. That might explain why not many educators differentiate instructions on their personalized websites a few decades ago. Changes have occurred since website builders broke the condition that one must be a programmer first to make a voice on the Internet. The new technology of website builders makes web development accessible to non-programmers. AI-powered ChatGPT goes one step further by having robots to teach humans how to code or conduct more intelligent work including programming for non-programmers.
This chapter goes through several major paths of website development. From a brief overview of traditional coding in some of the most popular programming languages to a more detailed discussion on free and ready-to-use website builders. This chapter introduces common tools that teachers can use to develop their own websites without investing time into programming. Without the burden of mastering sophisticated programming skills, this new way of website development allows educators to focus on the development of teaching and learning strategies on the web as well as new methods, pedagogy, and principles to create an engaging, inclusive, and open learning platform virtually.
This chapter introduces a package of tools to develop an engaging, inclusive, and open learning website. It further discusses design principles regarding how to layout a website, structure it in a backward design process, and design engaging image, text, audio, and video content. It introduces specific software, digital devices, and tools for website design that teachers can use to develop subpages as well as a variety of editing software and websites that allow users to enhance images, music, videos, and animation. It introduces strategies about how to insert recordings, embed discussion boards and interactive blogs, and link social media to the site, as well as convert computer versions of the site into a mobile version to make learning portable.
This chapter covers strategies for teachers to enhance personalized learning through their own personalized website development. Teachers’ websites serve as a hub for self-exploratory learning for students. Technology breaks down the barriers of physical classrooms and makes knowledge affordable, inexpensive, and accessible by allowing teachers to reach out to learners anywhere in the world.
Chapter 4
Developing an effective, engaging, inclusive, and open learning community benefits diverse learners and allows them to access information from any place, at any time, and at any pace. Despite many independent learners, humans as social creatures always seek interaction, emotional support, guidance from an expert, and encouragement. Weaknesses such as procrastination, laziness, addiction, and other mental, physical, and psychological situations cannot currently be addressed by providing technology tools. Effective learning still relies on teachers’ guidance. Often when learners encounter questions which are more individual, they need guidance to lead them through a learning process. It is the human-to-human interaction that makes learning more effective. As technology redefines the teacher’s role, teachers no longer allocate their time only into delivering knowledge to the students but creatively tailor personalized instructions to work with diversity.
From the teacher’s perspective, this chapter explores how to make learning engaging through differentiated instruction on the web.
Traditional classroom teaching didn’t leave many options for teachers to increase productivity and creativity. As time passes, education is reshaped by technological advancements creating new possibilities and opportunities to rethink teaching and learning. Educators need to jump out of the box and explore new ways to engage students.
Educators need to be aware of the potential and power of technology. It is not a matter of investing teacher labor and time, but how to invest teacher labor and time effectively and creatively so teachers can use technology to increase their productivity without increasing their workload. Teachers can use technology as their free assistant to facilitate students’ learning on a large scale. It is a matter of how teachers shift their roles into the process of creating new methods, strategies and are involved in the product innovation process. This chapter begins with an explanation of how technology-enhanced personalized learning models work and introduces a package of strategies that teachers can use to differentiate instructions on the web through their personalized website.
In an online class, teachers can better use their time to address issues that a personalized learning platform under the current technology cannot address—individual differences. In the design process, teachers’ roles are to improve the website to make it more automatic, comprehensive, functional, and user-friendly which will give them more time to help students who need one-on-one guidance due to personal situations and differentiate instructions. Teachers need to use their time smartly on the development of pedagogy that meets individual needs, and innovate new strategies to differentiate instructions on the web. These are the questions this chapter aims to answer.
From a definition of differentiated instruction to major features under the new pattern of learning, this chapter explores how to use differentiated instruction on the web to help schools, especially under-budget programs and individual teachers in remote school districts with limited resources, to solve a practical problem at their school or classroom settings. It explores the practical meaning of utilizing personalized learning models in the real world to differentiate instructions strategically and practically.
Chapter 5
The book ends with a conclusion chapter with a review of the main concepts, patterns, models, strategies, and technologies. This chapter points out the implications, the meaning of those new methods, trends, encourages discussions on new questions, Phenomena, learning behaviors, technologies, implications, and invites feedback from teachers.
This chapter also points out future research directions regarding what still needs to be done and researched. It calls for researchers to apply this learning model into their future research to verify potential effectiveness and issues. Thus, we as a learning community can gain new knowledge about how people learn differently in a world filled with new technologies and thus improve this learning model. We will ponder, discuss, and build on each other’s knowledge, so we can explore research and improve for a better future.
Chapter 1: Diversity and Trends: Language from a Privilege of the Elite to Personalized Learning
1.1 Global Learning Context
Humans already lived in a linguistically and culturally diverse world, even before the era of modern technology. Today, there are over 7 billion people and an estimated 6,500 languages (Census, 2018; infoplease, 2018; Ostler, 2005). In North America, over 300 languages were spoken before modern Europeans’ arrival (linguisticsociety, 2018; Britannica, 2018; Catalogue, 2018). This number increased to 1,061 after waves of new immigration. Around 150 indigenous languages are still in use in North America (Britannica, 2018). Asia is home to 2,294 living languages; Africa has 2,144, and there are 1,313 languages spoken by Pacific islanders (Anderson, 2018; nationsonline, 2018).
The world has been, and still is, linguistically diverse. Although languages are created and assimilated, the trend of bridging linguistic and cultural gaps, and finding ways to improve communication never stops. These efforts include communicating with contemporary language groups, and with future generations by inventing methods to preserve records for future generations (e.g., printing, oracle bone inspirations, symbols, and audio recordings) (See chart 1 for more details). Technological innovation has played a crucial role throughout human civilization
Chart 1: how language recording impacts communication over time and space
Chart 1 shows the creation of language influence, the broadness, and time-period of its impact. The horizontal line represents time. The oval represents a thought originating in a historical time at a particular geographic location. Over history, time and space have been barriers to human communication. How long a thought lasts or how fast it spreads depends on the carrier. The carrier can be body or spoken language, writing, audio or visual recordings, broadcast, etc.
The more advanced technology is, the further, broader, and faster a thought spreads out. For example, social media is more effective in spreading a message than printed newspapers. A drifting bottle carries its sender’s message to the outside world seeking rescue. Similarly, NASA sending signals to the universe (e.g., NASA sent human names to Mars) exemplifies human’s attempt to reach out to aliens beyond human knowledge. These examples indicate how thoughts travel across space, but technology differs in its speed and potential impact.
In this chart, the curves represent the speed of a thought over time. The break point shows a thought might have no impact during a period, namely disconnected due to being lost. Such loss may be caused by destroyed records (e.g., the ruined records of the 1400s voyages in Ming China) or the death of storytellers in Native American tribes.
Sometimes these records can be recovered or were passed down through other means or discovered by accident. For example, the Qin emperor’s army was hidden for almost 2,200 years, when it was discovered by a farmer drilling a well in the 1970s. This archeological discovery restored human knowledge about the ancient emperor’s underground army and lost history. Much more is still unknown to modern society.
Although both storytelling and discovery of the Qin tomb indicate how humans communicate across generations, unlike storytelling which passes down a message continuously, verbally, and directly. The message carried by the medium and means of the Qin secret underground army was passed down to modern society not through a continuous timeline but through a message stored over time. These are examples of how a thought travels over time.
No matter if a message is sent out across time or space, technology plays a crucial role in how fast the message is sent out, how broad the message spreads out and how big the impact the message may potentially make. Throughout history, human’s attempt at improving technology has never stopped.
1.1.1 Diversity stimulated technology innovation
How does linguistic and cultural diversity stimulate or inspire technological innovation?
From spoken words to complex written forms, the evolution of language fulfills the need to communicate. Storytelling, folklore, and other verbal histories were passed down or spread through face-to-face communication (Park, 2015). This kind of communication and record keeping may be cut off when the storyteller dies; therefore those who come after are unable to hear the storyteller’s ideas.
To break this barrier, written languages were created to overcome the shortcomings of face-to-face communication. Humans carved symbols on cave walls to record their daily activities which became the early forms of written language. Over thousands of years, these early languages were discovered by archeologists.
The creators of these ancient inscriptions did not pass their languages directly to modern scholars. The written language allowed humans to communicate across generations without direct verbal communication (Palaiologou 2012). For example, oracle bone inscriptions are the origin of modern Chinese language which record early agricultural activities. They are evidence scholars can use to uncover information about early societies.
Humans are never satisfied with what is considered the current way of communication; they always seek breakthroughs to socialize with a larger group of people. Humans’ social nature motivates them to innovate new methods of communication. Since language can be recorded through symbols, innovations evolved regarding how to efficiently record, safely store writing, and make records last. Accordingly, brushes, paper, and printing techniques were innovated. In each historical era, humans improved their way of written communication. Although media for records and techniques changed, the trend of humans’ search for better communication methods never stops. If inscribed oracle bones are the milestone of human civilization, then the invention of the computer marks the era of technological revolution.
Smartphone apps, computer software, social media, video games, virtual reality, and many other innovative technologies inject new energy to learning environments. Human communication is not only limited to face-to-face contact within people’s own neighborhoods—now individuals can, theoretically, contact anyone in the world. Curiosity about the outside world motivates people to explore new ways to reach out to other groups in unknown areas. Thus, from transporting the physical body through aircrafts to enabling face-to-face interaction, to delivering the video image of the person on the Internet to enable the same communication with the goal of overcoming geographic barriers, scientists have created generations of technology to make communication faster, broader, and more authentic.
Linguistic and cultural diversity is another factor to direct technological innovation. Many technologies aim to improve communication (e.g., telephone), when the basic needs of delivering and receiving communications have been fulfilled, people start to think about how to communicate across language groups. Thus, translation software and digital translator devices are created. Such innovation bridges the linguistic and cultural gap among diverse groups.
In summary, linguistic, and cultural diversity is always a motivator for technological innovation in human history.
1.1.2 The motivator
Categorizing technological innovations into different levels allows us to see a pattern: when basic communications are fulfilled, innovation moves towards higher levels.
1.1.3 Overcoming the space barrier: From physical to cultural – Travel to learn
Curiosity about the unknown motivated early travelers to explore Eurasia, and other continents. Their travels paved the way for the ancient Silk Road linking the East to the West. Expecting to develop a different route to the East, European navigators sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean, unexpectedly, expanding their knowledge about the Americas, continents unknown to them. With this discovery, Europeans not only corrected a misconception they had of the world as a flat surface, but also opened a new route for more Europeans to reach the east coast of Asia without traveling through the Silk Road. European exploration of the outside world marks the beginning of globalization.
One aspect of globalization is globalized education. “Study abroad” is a familiar word to language learners now, it was also practiced in ancient times in a much different form. While learners can easily travel abroad and immerse themselves in a new language and culture today, it was not the case centuries ago. Xuanzang, a monk who lived in Tang China and traveled to ancient India to study and translate Buddhist scripts in the 7th century, and Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit priest who traveled to the Qing China in the 16th century, were some of the earliest pioneers of study abroad. However, it was by no means affordable nor accessible to the ordinary person.
Affordable study abroad began with the development of automobiles, steam ships, and aircrafts. In comparison to the 19th century and earlier, traveling to learn was no longer limited to a few explorers backed by wealthy patrons. Modern transportation lowered the cost and increased the speed of travel. This technological revolution advanced and popularized study abroad programs as a means of “travel to learn.” It has allowed many students to gain first-hand experience and authentic knowledge through immersion in a foreign language and culture.
1.1.4 Overcoming the barrier of time – Learn without travel
Traveling is the most authentic way to learn about other cultures, but not everyone can afford to travel to learn. For the majority, learning takes place without physical relocation. These non-travelers gain knowledge about other cultures and places through written records such as books. As a major source of knowledge, written records can easily be stored, carried over different geographic locations and passed down throughout generations. In a broader sense, we use written records to refer to any message recorded on a medium.
Throughout history, the common way to learn and communicate was through symbols recorded on a medium. Since its creation, humans have continued to improve language carriers. These different levels of language carriers allow humans to “learn without travel.” From ancient symbols, book printing, to virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), humans intend to fulfill the basic sense first and then move up to higher levels of communication once a lower level is reached. The motivator that drives such improvement is humans’ curiosity while the means to enable such movement is technology.
1. Visual only communication. This is the first and most basic level. Unlike storytelling which requires physical contact to pass down knowledge, the creation of written language reduces the reliance on direct human contact between the knowledge creator and receiver. Written texts enable cross-generational and cross-regional learning without direct human contact.
Innovations in recording information make it more flexible, portable, and accessible to larger audiences than previous technology.
2. Assisted audio-communication. This level of technology allows learners to comprehend written text without knowing how to read. Kurswell 3000 technology allows a computer to read written text aloud. Converting written text into audio format helps readers with limited reading proficiency to decode meaning though listening. Such technology transfers reading skill into listening skill and improves the learners’ comprehension of the text. At Washington State University, the Student Athletic Development Program adopted Kurswell 3000 to help football players improve academic reading. This million-dollar grant program converted all the textbooks any enrolled athletes were using into audio recordings. For those athletes whose reading level fell far below college reading level, the advisor had a computer program to read each textbook to the individual athlete line by line before providing one-on-one instructions.
Modern technology surpasses ancient technologies and allows interactive and communicative functions.
3. Assisted translation. This type of technology enables comprehension without learning how to speak. Some translating software allows communication between different language speakers without human translators. This benefits travelers, businesspeople, online learners, and others who are unable to speak a different language.
4. Immersion without travel. The advent of virtual reality (VR) technology, allows those who do not travel abroad to learn about other cultures authentically. In a virtual studio, learners can immerse in the cultural environment without physically visiting the place (e.g., tour the Egyptian pyramid or practice skiing at home). It also allows people to visit places otherwise inaccessible or dangerous for humans (e.g., Facebook’s hurricane VR and National Geographic’s Viking Battle adopted 360-degree VR technology).
5. Learn without becoming. When immersion in a virtual language environment reaches a new height of authenticity above virtual reality, the level above immersion without travel is the artificial intelligence level. The purpose of AI research is to create an intelligent counterpart for humans to communicate with. It enables faster calculations and analysis of issues and aims to find solutions to complex problems. At some level, AI changes from an aid to a replacement. As technology continues to advance, AI’s intelligence levels and the fields it can replace humans in, will grow. That is to say, humans may no longer need to learn to become literary, multilingual or develop many features which define an educated person in our current society. If it happens, this new change may mark a new era of redefining human beings.
The chart below shows the communication evolution terrace. In reality, overlaps may exist between two or more levels instead of a clear cut separation. In general, this chart is used to visually display human pursuit of better communication methods towards higher levels of communication when a lower level of needs is fulfilled.
The chart of the communication evolution terrace: when basic levels are fulfilled, innovation moves towards higher levels.
1.1.5 Tech revolution diversifies learning
How does technological revolution diversify human learning?
Linguistic and cultural contacts throughout history stimulated technological innovation to bridge communication gaps between different groups. In return, technological revolution reshaped and diversified the learning environment through the creation of new tools to fulfill diverse needs, such as recording daily activities, studying a new language and abstracting patterns of human learning through big data.
During the 16th Century, there was no pedagogy book on learning the Chinese language. Early missionaries, like Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), used symbols in their own language to record pronunciations of the Chinese language. Later, grammar books and dictionaries were commonly used in foreign language classes. Like a traffic manual to new drivers, these grammar books summarized principles and rules of a language but were often dry in examples and lacked real life application (Larsen-Freeman, 2001). With audio tapes, learners no longer relied on the presence of the message deliverer and one speaker could reach out to many listeners through duplicates of audio recordings. In addition, the audio format is more authentic to what learners hear in real communication. When a visual aspect was added, with the invention of television, language learning was enriched. However, all the popular technologies in the last generation failed to address individual needs and roles in language learning.
Language learning is interactive and dynamic (Larsen-Freeman 2001). It does not matter if language learners are reading a book, listening to a CD or watching a video, learners are passive message receivers (Larsen-Freeman, 2001). New technology, such as online video games with other learners, allow receivers to become participators, and input their thoughts and receive feedback across time and space. How technology diversifies a learner’s experience is reflected by how technology addresses individual differences in language and culture (Reinders White, 2016). For example, video game developers have designed different language settings which allow learners to choose based on their levels (Chika, 2014). Second Life and World of Warcraft can be played online by learners in different countries (Sholz Schulze, 2017). It allows learners to choose characters they would like to become and interact in a virtual environment mirroring the interpersonal communication in a real human society.
1.2 Language Learning on the Web
This section introduces web-based language learning as a solution to satisfy diverse learning needs (Park 2015; Son, 2008).
The computer is arguably one of the greatest innovations of the 20th century. When the first electronic programmable computer “ENIAC” was invented in 1946 (Moye, 1996), the press used "Giant Brain" to describe the huge space it occupied (Containing 17,500 vacuum tubes linked by 500,000 soldered connections, ENIAC “filled a 50-foot-long basement room and weighed 30 tons.”). This early computer was first used in the military for calculation. There was little to no direct benefit to civilians until personal computers were introduced. Reducing the size and increasing calculation speed made it possible to fit a computer on an office desk. The creation of the personal computer was a great step forward regarding technological improvements. It broadened people’s access to such technology. In the 1990’s, the popularity of Windows 95 allowed ordinary people to easily use PCs without training in running disk operating systems or DOS (an operating system introduced by IBM in 1981).
However, without the Internet, a PC was like a big calculator, and required training to do basic functions under the DOS system. A breakthrough occurred in the 1990s with the transition to modern Internet, which connected ordinary computer users to each other. This connection is a powerful function, as it has enabled broader communication and linked people from across the world. Although the Internet allowed people to read information online, it didn’t have interactive functions. To overcome this shortcoming, Web 2.0 was invented to allow users to interact with other users freely by delivering information and responding to other users’ posts. However, it still required professional training in programming to create and post a simple webpage.
1.3 From Programming to Website Builders
How does technology reshape teaching and learning on the web? (Warshauer, 2002; Godwin-Jones, 1999)
For years, ordinary Internet users who had no programming skills were excluded in website development. To develop a personal website meant people without programming skills had to hire a programmer to write code to run their websites. The cost and complicated process of website development made it less accessible and affordable to ordinary people including many educators. During that time, websites seemed to be a privilege of large organizations, governments, companies, and a few computer programmers. Consequently, educators were able to select useful materials online for classroom use, but their ability to post and share materials on the web was limited. Often, they may not have been able to find materials that met their teaching needs. When a teacher created new material, they were unable to share it unless they knew how to program a personal website. During this time, educators’ voices on the web were silenced due to technological barriers. They were passive users without sophisticated computing language to enable communicating on the web.
However, this situation has changed, with the creation of website builders. The innovation of website builders (e.g., Weebly, WordPress, and Wix) allows users without programming skills to develop websites on their own. Such technology was so powerful, it simplified the process of website development and made personal websites largely accessible. In addition, websites, and do-it-yourself animation software like nawmal and other video editing software (e.g., Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Adobe After Effects, Animoto) allow users to create add-on materials to their website. This software allowed users to enhance their photo image and video quality as well as provide professional functions which entry level website builders may not provide. These add-on functions created by individual users via a variety of software and combinations of websites made website design more personalized.
Since materials can be created based on the individual users’ needs and shared freely with other users, website builders greatly personalize the website design process. Making the transition from Internet surfers who passively select ready-to-use materials online to active website designers who create their own website materials. Educators without programming skills can also develop personal websites for their own classroom use. From the privilege of a few programmers to accessibility for all users, the innovation of website builders has greatly empowers educators in what to create and how to share as well as diversify learning through developing materials based on individual needs. This marks a new era of personalized learning in the digital age.
Created by individual users and used for all, web-based language learning is a solution to satisfy diverse learning needs.
1.4 Web-Based/Internet Technology
This section informs educators of key principles of web development as well as discusses a variety of web-based technologies which enhance learning in class as well as at home.
What Should Teachers/Learners Know about web-based technologies?
In web-based learning, educators with no programming training can use website builders to develop their own websites. The most used website builders include Weebly, Wix and WordPress. These site builders provide built-in functions to allow users to drag and drop videos, images, and audio files to the work area of the sites to develop their websites. It provides various apps which can be embedded in the site.
An overview of the development of computer technology and evolution of the Internet provides readers with a global picture of technological innovation. More importantly, the history of technological revolution educates teachers to be aware of what technologies are available to personalize and diversify learning.
1.4.1 Programming a website
Traditionally, to design a website from scratch, the designer first needs to draft a layout of their website. Then, they need to write code to enable website functions, such as drop-down boxes, embedded videos, etc., or use software, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, to facilitate web design. This process requires training in programming, as well skills in using professional software. After the website is finished, the designer has to publish it on the Internet to make it accessible to other Internet users. This last step involves knowledge in domain, website hosting, and server storage options.
If we imagine the Internet as an art gallery, a website is a painting, the domain name is the title, and the server is the rented wall space where the painting is displayed. To make a webpage available on the Internet, the user needs to purchase a domain name which is unique to the site and allows other users to locate the website. After acquiring a domain name, the user also needs to find a server to host the website. A computer scientist can build their own server to host the website, while educators may not even be aware of basic functions of a server and why it matters in running their newly created website.
In the past, website development, acquiring a domain name and hosting a website were three components in developing a website. Users have to figure out these steps separately on their own. Without computing knowledge, ordinary people, including many educators, found it challenging. Complexity in website development creates barriers and increases the cost of designing a personal website since ordinary people have to rely on a programmer to develop the website for them. Few people can go through these three steps of website development. Since programming language becomes the bottleneck for personalized website development, programming a website greatly limits the number of Internet users who can acquire their own personalized website. As a privilege to a few computer geeks, personalized websites are not as common to everyday people.
1.4.2 Website builders
How do website builders make it easy for educators to build a website?
Today, website builders allow all three traditional steps of website development (building the site, acquiring a domain name and hosting a website) to be done at one time, simplifying the process of website development. Users neither need to know how to program and lay out a webpage, nor do they need to know where to register and host their website on a server.
For example, after the user creates an account with a website builder, they can start developing a website by adding pages, using drag and drop functions they can create a photo slideshow, or an embedding video, etc. Once the website is finished, the user can click on the publish button to create a domain name and check its availability. Then, the website can be hosted through the website builder unless the user has other requests. From site development functions, to selecting a domain name to hosting the website, the whole process can be completed through the website builder (A detailed discussion will be found in Chapter 3).
Chapter 2: Personalized Learning
Why do teachers want to provide personalized learning?
Education is a creative activity. Throughout most of history, access to education has been a privilege for a few elites. Knowledge was less accessible to ordinary people. Along with the technological revolution came the liberalization of literacy to the public. From the Gutenberg press to the Internet, technological innovation not only makes more channels of knowledge available to ordinary people but also reduces the cost of knowledge (Wang and Winstead, 2016). Thus, it makes knowledge affordable and accessible to the grassroots. This paves the road for the transition from elite education to public education and finally to personalized learning for all.
When basic literacy education becomes mandatory, the focus shifts to improving the quality of education. This calls for re-evaluation of the current education programs and reassessing learning needs. The transition from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning in public education indicates an increased social demand and capability to not only offer traditional school education, but also personalized learning to students. School administrators and educators who share this vision seek new methods to engage students in classrooms as well as serve their needs outside the classroom. However, we cannot ignore the imbalance of social development. Several realistic factors call for our attention.
Despite the popularization of mandatory school education, competition for the best educational resources is fierce. Educational resources are not equally allocated. Developmental imbalance has advanced the elite into a comparatively better educational environment than the majority of learners. Depending on the location, educational policy, and other factors, not all schools have sufficient funding to provide high quality education. Despite individual educators’ wishes, budget cuts are a common issue hindering educators’ efforts in elevating quality and creativity in many public-school campuses. Often, teachers face larger classes, more repetitive work and less time for professional development or curriculum design. How teachers perform and satisfy students’ needs under budget is a challenge. For educators who choose their teaching career based on passion, the shortage of education resources can be frustrating. This realistic challenge (which is outside of teachers’ control) puts teachers in a dilemma of sacrificing personal time and money to support students’ learning. Feeling obligated to provide quality education under budget not only creates a bottleneck for innovation, but also makes it difficult for teachers to provide quality education. Compared with the past, technology provides a solution to these teachers.
As the world becomes interconnected through the Internet, many educational resources and technological tools become free and widely accessible online. These tools and methods can increase teachers’ productivity and release their time from repetitive work. Appropriate application of these tools and methods reallocates teachers’ time to a meaningful part of teaching. In many ways, technology plays the role of free assistants for teachers.
Not only for teachers, but schools also suffering budget cuts tend to develop more technology-enhanced programs to survive the financial difficulty. Hybrid courses and distance education have been seen as strategies to allow schools to over perform despite cuts of teaching positions. Technology-assisted proponents allow schools to reallocate funds to the areas which require teacher intelligence and labor.
Internet technology opens a door to most of the population outside the school system. No matter if it is school kids in poorly financed districts or those not enrolled in the education system, the internet provides endless opportunities for them to acquire knowledge and gain learning experience. From learning Hip-hop dancing and making a solar panel to learning a language, anyone can learn a variety of skills outside the school system. They can also decide what, how, where, and when to learn. This great autonomy in learning leads to the term this chapter aims to discuss “personalized learning.”
This new type of learning driven by technological revolution in the past decades also leads to a broad and deep reflection and discussion among educators who began to rethink what needs to be changed with our education system to satisfy newly emerging needs. Differentiated instruction has become a hot topic.
This chapter explores how technology advances personalized learning as well as a learner’s perspective of the adaptation of new tools in individualized learning. We hope this discussion of what happens in the learning process outside school can open teachers’ minds about what we are going to introduce in the following chapters, that is, what tools can teachers use immediately and how can we design new tools to differentiate instructions.
2.1 Learning Styles and Individual Differences
At a macro level, society has always been diverse throughout different historical stages. At an individual level, learners have different learning styles, language backgrounds, interests, life paths, and sets of skills. All of these determine how people learn differently as well as how their motivations vary from one individual to another (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009).
Learning style is the learner's preference toward the learning process, including the information processing behavior (Cheng, Chiu, Wu, & Tsaih, 2017). Unlike differences of ability, learning styles emphasize the preferences for processing certain types of information or for processing information in certain ways (Willingham, Hughes, & Dobolyi, 2015). It is a concept that shows how individuals differ regarding instruction and study modes (Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer & Bjork, 2008). When teaching methods and resources match up to a learner’s learning style, learners seem to show better academic achievement and attitude toward learning (Cheng, Chiu, Wu & Tsaih, 2017; Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer & Bjork, 2008). Although Roberts, Hargett, Nagler, etl. (2015) and some others claimed that there was limited evidence to prove a relation between learning styles and academic performance, their study indicated that learners showed strong feelings about self-perceived learning efficacy and different learning preferences.
Learning styles are not only related to a selection of learning strategies which different learners use to navigate learning (Schemeck, 1988), but also involves individual learners’ characteristics, cognition, effectiveness, and psychological behaviors in how they perceive, interact with, and respond to a learning environment (Keefe, 1979). Learning styles affect learning in a face-to-face setting as well as virtual learning environment (Manochehri & Young, 2006).
According to the theories of learning styles, previous researchers categorize learners by major categories of learning styles such as visual learners, verbal learners, and social learners (Ku & Chang, 2011; Mayer & Massa, 2003; Rogowsky, 2015; Sternberg & Zhang, 2001). Some other researchers investigated the impact of cognitive styles on learners’ information processing at multiple levels (Kozhevnikov, 2007; Liu, 2017). To achieve the same learning outcome, different learners may find one way more effective than the others. For instance, attribute-treatment interaction assumes that visual learners learn better through visual methods of instruction while the verbal method is more effective to verbal learners (Mayer & Massa, 2003; Sternberg & Zhang, 2001).
By emphasizing visual presentation of information input visual learners seem to be more motivated to learn through images and videos in which they have a better chance of imaging their ideal language selves (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009; Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer & Bjork, 2008). They rely heavily on the visual channel when processing and internalizing experience. Kinsella (1995) indicated four characteristics of visual learners: “1) They relate to words such as see, look, pictures, observe, show, imagine. 2) They understand better and retain information most efficiently by looking at visually stimulating objects such as pictures, diagrams, and charts. 3) They prefer modeling and observation to verbal explanation. 4) They enjoy a powerful visual memory and can remember, for example, faces, locations, signs” (p. 227).
Audio stimulation may be more effective for learners who are sensitive to sound or with an audio style preference (Mayer & Massa, 2003; Sternberg & Zhang, 2001). Oral communication, audio recording, music, speech, talk show, and podcast may be more engaging to verbal learners. Although Rogowsky’s (2015) study failed to prove that the match of one’s preferred learning style results in stronger knowledge retention to audio information input, it is arguable that options for audio materials may still engage learners of audio preference from a website designer and learner’s perspective. Thus, providing learners’ favored options might be a good way to motivate diverse learners.
Others prefer to learn through social interaction. Given two options, either working with a partner or working individually, these learners tend to choose the options which allow them to socialize with others. However, teachers may also notice not all learners are active in a group discussion or activity. Some individuals may get nervous in a social setting. Many factors, such as social anxiety, may cause some learners to be inactive in group activities.
Despite learning styles, disability and psychological issues may also affect people’s learning process. Some learners may be born with a disability (e.g., dyslexia, color blindness) or become disabled later. Others may suffer from psychological problems or lack mental stability. With or without these individuals’ control, their physical and mental conditions affect how they sense the information and react accordingly. These factors determine how individuals may process information input from the same class differently. For example, “attenuation of the auditory sense will result in individuals becoming relatively more dependent on vision than audition” (Marschark, Spencer, Durkin, etl., 2015, p. 310). Therefore, deaf people may develop superior visual-spatial skills and possibly become visual learners (e.g., Dowaliby & Lang, 1999; Hauser, Lukomski, & Hillman, 2008; Marschark & Hauser, 2012).
Therefore, each individual learner comes from a unique linguistic and cultural background. The learner’s gender, age, interest, and personality are like labels which distinguish these individuals from others. In learning, all factors physical, intellectual, emotional, or environmental make a difference in how these individual learners process information and express their own thoughts (Waldrip, Yu & Prain, 2016). In teaching, all the factors which make individual variation of learning need to be considered.
In contrast to teacher-centered big classroom teaching, in which individuals’ needs are ignored or eliminated, personalized learning focuses on the needs of the learner and addresses learners’ unique characteristics (Chen, 2008; Pane, Steiner, Baird, Hamilton, 2015).
What matters is whether learners are given options about what to learn and how to learn as well as what options they are offered. Providing options such as photos, audio recordings and/or collaborative projects can help learners of different learning styles as well as different physical and mental conditions to study, comprehend, memorize, and reactivate the same content knowledge effectively and reach their learning goals more easily. These options also include identifying learning goals and appropriate paths leading to these goals. In the learning process, teachers are the facilitators. Instructing learners based on their preference can activate learners’ agency. Under guidance, learners can determine their learning styles and choose what ways best help them reach their learning goals. In addition, giving learners instructional options also allows them to practice and strengthen the skills they need to develop. All these efforts are making education more personalized.
2.2 What is Personalized Learning?
Personalized learning refers to education driven by each student’s unique needs. It implies teachers tailoring their instruction and assessment for each students’ strengths, needs and interests (Easley, 2017; Patrick, Kennedy, & Powell, 2013; Pane, Steiner, Baird, & Hamilton, 2015). With great flexibility and support to individual students, personalized learning enables students’ voice and choice in what, how, when, and where they learn (Easley, 2017; Marzano, Norford, Finn & Finn III, 2017).
The U.S. Department of Education (2010) defines personalized learning as the instruction that is paced to learning needs as well as tailored to different learners’ specific interests and learning preferences. In a fully personalized environment, the learning objectives, content, method, and pace may all vary. Personalized learning emphasizes the learner’s agency in deciding learning goals, materials, and methods (Shak, 2018). Personalized learning is student-centered learning in which learners actively participate in the design of their own learning (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). The overall quality of personalized learning may depend on a combination of factors such as students’ readiness to learn, assessment processes, engagement, extent to which their learning is personalized and their associations with academic efficacy (Waldrip, Yu, Prain, & Vaughan, 2016). Rand Corporation (2014) identified learner profiles, personal learning paths, competency-based progression, and flexible learning environment as four essential attributes for personalized learning.
The personalized learning movement in higher education has focused on reducing costs and increasing access to higher education. In K-12 education, the movement also emphasizes maximizing student engagement, closing achievement gaps, and meeting the needs of all students (Marzano, Norford, Finn & Finn III, 2017).
2.2.1 Apply personalized learning to learning and teaching
Personalized learning is applicable to the learning process as well as the teaching process.
In learning, individual learners are not obligated to follow a learning agenda which is designed for a group or program, but instead they can decide their own learning goals, interest, levels, and pace as well as adopt any methods, resources, and tools that allow them to meet the goals (Sahin & Kisla, 2016). Personalized learning may occur during children’s self-exploration of a video game. Often, children learn to play games without the guidance of adults. When they encounter a question, they tend to go online to find an answer by themselves. In this problem-solving process, they identify the issue, find a path, and look for help based on their own needs. This problem-solving process through video gaming is a learning process but more importantly it is personalized, as different children may experience different problem-solving processes. In this learning process, technology creates the environment for personalized learning as well as provides the tools for the children to learn independently.
Home school is another situation in which planned teaching may not occur hand in hand with personalized learning. At home, parents are the decision makers of children’s learning materials. They decide what to read, when to read, where to learn and how to study. Sometimes, children use their own agency to choose materials and request play time. Reading with the children can be personalized but may not be intentionally planned.
Therefore, personalized learning may occur naturally and casually, but may also involve systematic planning, more often in a school setting. In teaching, personalized learning reflects how teachers give students freedom to diagnose their own learning goals, needs, interests, pace, levels, as well as student-preferred paths to reach their learning goals. Teachers may design personalized plans according to different students’ needs and facilitate different individuals in different ways. The questions Champagne and Goldman (1975) asked can help teachers develop the role of diagnostician of students’ strengths and weaknesses prior to offering instructions: “What special skills does each student possess? How does he seem to learn best? Which materials and organizations of learning units seem particularly effective with him? What kind of attention span does he have with abstract tasks or with concrete tasks? When does he seem to be distracted from a task in which he is interested? How independent and self-directing is he?” (p.6).
2.2.2 Personalized learning applies for one-on-one, group and large class setting
Personalized learning applies for three learning settings: A one-on-one teaching setting, a small group setting, and a middle to large class setting. With the primary purpose of using technology to increase teacher productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, this book focuses on the three scenarios. Not only because personalized learning is more manageable in a face-to-face school setting like a one-on-one in-person tutoring or group discussion, but also because the large group setting is more difficult to apply personalized learning in a traditional school environment. That’s why the researcher aims to explore how to make personalized learning effective in large class settings by using limited resources.
The one-on-one setting often applies to a tutoring environment in which the teacher fully focuses on the tutee’s learning needs. Since the goal is to find a plan that best meets this individual’s needs, all resources and instructions are tailored towards one learner’s education (Prain, Waldrip, Sbagli, & Lovejoy, 2017).
Compared with one-on-one tutoring, a group of individuals’ needs vary. To apply personalized learning to a group requires more of the teacher’s time in curriculum design and lesson plan to meet different needs. The process of implementing different levels of instructions according to different learners’ needs involves differentiated instruction which we will discuss in chapter 4.
A good example is a small-size foreign language class and some cram school programs which allow an instructor to work with a small group of students based on their varied needs. In foreign language classes, there are often a mixed group of students who have learned a language through study abroad, from their parents, a language club, or friends. Their levels, goals, and proficiency levels differ. In this more complex learning environment, the teacher may conduct a pre-assessment or interview to get a good understanding of the students’ needs, levels, and learning styles before designing any instruction plan. Considering the time involved in developing different instructional plans, personalized learning was not popular among large classroom teaching. However, in this book the author argues that personalized learning is applicable to all teaching settings regardless of the number of students involved. The crucial issue is how to apply personalized learning to increase learning outcomes without increasing teachers’ workload. Technology provides a solution. In terms of how to strategically apply technology to differentiate instructions in a small classroom to a large online class, Chapter 4 provides a detailed analysis of how to take advantage of technologies to enable personalized learning at all levels, especially in what technological strategies teachers can adopt to differentiate instructions to a mixed level class. The chapter will discuss through demonstration of an example of how the technology-enhanced personalized learning model is applied to teaching Mandarin Chinese to a mixed-level group of students.
To visualize these three scenarios, the author makes these three graphs below.
Graph of applying personalized learning model into small, middle, and large learning settings
Left: Teacher-student One-on-one Learning Model
Middle: Teacher to Multiple Students Model
Right: One Teacher Faces the World Model
The graph on the left shows a teacher-student one-on-one learning model which is commonly used for homeschooling, tutoring and intensive one-on-one instruction. In this model, the teaching is completely designed based on the student’s needs.
The graph in the middle is a teacher-to-multiple-students model. In this model, students of three different needs sit in the same classroom so the teacher applies different strategies to teaching each student. This model may be duplicated in an online chat room in which different tasks and assessments may be carried out. This model can be applicable to online classrooms via video conferencing technologies (e.g., ZOOM, Google Hangouts, Adobe Connect) or take place through apps (e.g., WeChat, LINE, Whatsup, Facebook) over mobile devices.
However, without technology the Teacher to Multiple Students Model can hardly be applied to teaching a large group of students regardless of the delivery format (e.g., face-to-face, online).
The challenge comes when applying the personalized learning model to large classroom teaching. To make personalized learning manageable in a large classroom setting, more technologies and creative strategies are needed in course design. This is the primary purpose and value of this book. The main question this book aims to solve is: “How to use technology to enhance teacher productivity and make personalized learning and differentiated instruction possible in one teacher to all students in a large classroom setting.” Here a large classroom setting can be reflected as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in an online setting. Application of personalized learning in large online courses requires large amounts of ready-to-use resources, pre-designed options and troubleshooting solutions to meet different learners’ needs at the same time. Through the aid of a team of technologies, the teacher sitting in the traffic hub is only to conduct traffic and direct individuals on how to learn and where to find information for each learner's needs.
Considering the teacher as creator, the graph on the right shows the One Teacher Faces the World Model. This model defines the teacher’s role in the digital age as well as sets a paradigm for the AI age of teaching and human learning and MOOCs integrating personalized learning.
2.2.3 Comparisons of these three models
Traditional classroom teaching features a direct pass of knowledge from the teacher to the student. In an auditorium, a teacher lectures in front of a large crowd of students. In this setting the teacher's interaction with individual students is very limited. Often, there’s a delay in getting feedback which is sometimes from a teaching assistant instead of the teacher.
In a one-on-one tutoring model which overcomes the shortcomings of traditional classroom teaching, the teacher can completely tailor a learning plan for the individual learner. However, it is difficult to apply this model to a large class. In addition, the cost of one-on-one tutoring is not always affordable to ordinary students. Allowing the student and teacher to be in a geographic location can also be unrealistic to those in remote areas. In terms of time, to have both students and the teacher available may not always be easy.
A moderate combination of both features is that the teacher’s time will be best used for lecturing or instructing students while supervising tutors outside regular class hours. Also, flipped models and differentiated instructions allow students to do basic work before class which improves the efficiency of class time use. In class, the teacher serves as a facilitator and focuses on addressing students’ concerns and questions rather than a general lecture. Although this model combines the features of the previous two models and overcomes their shortcomings, it still relies on human labor. To reduce the reliance on human labor, the third model adopts technology to reallocate teachers’ time to creative work and release them from repetitive work.
In the third model, teachers are no longer simply playing the role of passing knowledge to the individual or a group of individuals in person, but rather becoming the strategic planners and managers of how learning can be enabled and enhanced through technology. In the third model, the teachers’ roles are more creative and productive, because their goal is not simply to help students to reach learning goals, but to create strategic plans of how to use technology to make teaching and learning smart and creative without increasing teachers’ workload. That means, teachers might not be a traditional means of human teachers, but “digital teachers” as well like pre-developed programs and AI.
2.2.4 Redefining “Teacher” in the AI age
Teachers are innovators who master technology. They even create technology to extend human-human interaction as well as human-technology interaction. This new stage of technological innovation not only greatly reduces the teachers’ workload but also redefines the term “teacher.” From an innovator perspective, a key feature which defines “teacher” is the ability to create technology to increase learning outcomes. Since AI may fulfill human teachers’ roles in broader areas, the role of teacher in an AI age can be played by both human and AI.
“What is the true value of being a teacher?” “What does it mean to be a teacher in the digital age?” As technology gradually replaces the teacher’s work in a classroom, technology also redefines the teacher’s role. From an individual who oversees all aspects of a student’s learning, the role is shifting to be someone tech savvy with insights on how human cognition works and expertise on what technologies facilitate personalized learning. With more traditional teaching tasks being gradually replaced by technology and a shrinking pool of traditional teaching jobs in the market, teachers reallocate their time to the areas in which current technology hasn’t been able to fully replace teacher labor in making learning effective. For example: humanity, emotional input, human communication. While technology is steadily replacing human labor bottom up from more basic practices such as grammar check to more advanced speaking interaction through voice recognition. Without a change in mind and action, the choices left for traditional teachers are disappearing.
The New Roles and Competency of Teachers in the Digital Age:
- Teachers as digital learners who constantly update their knowledge and keep up the pace of digital development
- Teachers as tech experts with insights on applying technology to learning
- Teachers as tech creators who innovate technology and conduct what AI cannot
- Teachers as officers directing traffic at digital crossroad
- Teachers as strategic planners packaging technologies and learning strategies
2.2.5 Learners in the virtual world
Technology’s role is revolutionary, as it redefines teacher-student relations in a learning environment. With the teacher’s role being redefined, the student role is also redefined.
Learners pick up information from the environment, process, transfer and adopt the knowledge. However, since the means of knowledge delivery is no longer only from a human teacher, learners in the virtual world may face a human teacher or AI. Thus, it breaks the traditional teacher-student relation in which learning occurs between two humans.
Although we define students as human, the improvement of AI research is extending the scope of learner definition. That is, a learner can be human or AI. Then, how does this affect learning? Obviously, human learners not only face competition from their own human species but their AI creatures.
AI research opens a new era which features machines that teach humans. Humans need to make more effort to consolidate their status in a high-tech society as well as rebuild confidence to sense the value of becoming a human being in a highly digitized society.
2.3 The Connection between Technology and Personalized Learning
What’s the connection between technology and personalized learning?
Technological innovation breaks traditionally controlled information flow channels such as book publishing, schools, and television. The Internet connects individuals in the global community. These individuals no longer need to go through government and corporation-controlled media and publishers to seek information and be educated, the Internet plays a role to empower the individuals by bypassing traditional information channels (Wang and Winstead, 2016). Under this trend, technology not only bridges individuals and the information source, but also enables personalized learning on the web. Personalized learning reflects what individuals need in how they believe learning should take place. It is the process to return the right way of how to learn to those individuals in the global society.
A historical review reveals that ancient Chinese emperors had mentors in tailoring instruction to him. Education was a privilege which common people didn’t receive. Today, technology breaks such privileges (e.g., traditional barriers and channels of information) by functioning as a bridge to connect the creator of knowledge to the receiver.
2.3.1 An example of application of technology-enhanced personalized learning model to class teaching
To help teachers understand how to apply personalized learning models to middle to large classrooms, below is an example for the application of technology to enhance personalized learning in a regular foreign language class.
Chin 1059 Chinese Conversation is designed and offered as a mixed-level class. With an increasing financial challenge facing many schools in the United States, university programs are pushed to explore new methods to increase enrollment. Reaching a minimum enrollment of 10 students determines whether a foreign language course is offered or canceled. This is nothing regarding the students’ interest or need in language education, but simply the reality of our current education system. The dilemma lies in the imbalance of our students and the old way of running programs. On the one hand, there are often not enough students of the same proficiency level to enroll in the same elective foreign language course. On the other hand, a decent number of students who are interested in or need to take a foreign language class are at mixed levels. They eagerly look for opportunities to maintain their foreign language proficiency but cannot find a course that suits their levels. This dilemma reflects a problem in our education system and program structure that no longer functions under the current circumstance. Prioritizing enrollment sacrifices the interest of the students who are committed to foreign language learning. In turn, failing to offer a program meeting students’ needs backfires on school enrollment. To overcome this difficulty, strategies for designing mixed-level classes have become crucial.
The designer has to break through or abandon the traditional paradigm of language course design by answering “Is it necessary to enroll the same level of students in the same class all the time to maintain the quality of learning?” In other words, “Is it possible to maintain the same learning outcome while allowing a mixed level of students to enroll in the same class?”
A traditional class tends to take care of the average student or merely serves the majority. It emphasizes the overall performance of the student body while sacrificing the over-performed and underperformed groups. Unlike the traditional class, the class featuring personalized learning is designed to serve individual students’ needs. First deciding the goals of the course and then designing a path leads to the goals, the course designer adopted a backward design process. Since students will not be at the same level, it is unreasonable to expect the students to reach the same learning outcomes by the end of the course.
Therefore, the first step is to understand: “What do our students need?”. A pre-survey indicates that most students who have no foreign language background expect to develop basic conversation skills. So, we mark this as one of the teaching outcomes and include it in the design. Those with prior foreign language experience through study abroad, friends, and families have a higher starting point than those who start from scratch. For them, maintaining pre-developed language proficiency and/or improving speaking fluency are their primary goals. We mark this as our second teaching outcome in design. In addition to these two groups, individual native-speaking students who need no foreign language credits might also sneak into this class, expecting easy credits or friendship with non-native speakers. Once enrolled, teachers might not always persuade unexpected students to drop out of the class.
Therefore, teachers need to be prepared for a very diverse classroom and set proper learning outcomes, as well as strategies to accommodate all groups of students. Even though some students’ primary purpose in enrolling in the class is not studying the language, their native-language skills and cultural experience are valuable assets for the class, so why not utilize it for our design?
With these goals in mind, now we can design the paths to these goals. An important aspect is to keep the goals measurable. Here I suggest adopting effort-based and performance-based learning. Since students will start at different levels, standardized testing is not the most appropriate and fair measurement for their learning outcomes. On the contrary, should mixed level students be expected to complete the course with higher levels of proficiency than what they started? If so, varied paths leading to the goals and tailored instructions work better for different individuals. It means to offer multiple study plans for the students and let them choose the best options for them. For example, students can organize small study groups. In a class capacity of around 20 students, grouping by needs, interests, and levels is manageable. Teachers can also offer personalized learning options for individuals. When the class size is around 10 students, teachers can guide each student to develop an individualized study plan. When the class enrollment is big, teachers may consider utilizing technology as their free assistants to differentiate instructions. Further discussion will be given in chapter 4.
Regardless of working with groups or individuals, the teacher needs to ensure an accurate assessment of students’ language skills as well as an understanding of expected outcomes. According to students’ needs, teachers may help those of the same goals to design a study plan, select materials, assignments, and assessments based on their goals along the way. Syllabi should provide options and flexibility for varied learning outcomes and measurements.
For example, ten beginning-level students are divided into 3 groups to study materials suitable to them in and outside the class. They meet twice a week outside the class to practice speaking. By the end of the semester, they are expected to demonstrate conversation skills by using 300 words to describe 5 topics. The intermediate group also identifies their learning goals. These students write down their goals in their syllabi bound to the teacher like a contract. In this way, teachers can hold students liable for their own learning while providing options. Setting different goals from the beginning group overcomes the shortcoming of peer pressure in a traditional foreign language class, as these methods encourage students to focus on their own progress rather than comparing themselves with their peers. Letting students understand varied expectations and being responsible for their own study motivate the over-performing students as well as those under-performing. It encourages effort, self-improvement, and self-reliance while also discouraging laziness and procrastination.
The headache comes from how to deal with those, often native speakers, with no intention of learning, but enrolled in a foreign language class. Teachers’ complaints do no good but may frustrate the students. Deciding a learning goal is the first step even though there seems to be none in these students’ opinion. Why not identify and utilize native speakers’ skills and let them contribute to the overall learning of the class? If they somehow show an interest in studying their native language, then scholarly materials in the native language such as novels and critiques can be suitable for them to further improve their native language. If their intention is to make friends, then the teacher can encourage them to lead some activities and social interactions as well as let them become peer mentors on foreign language teaching methods. This way, they can be assistants to the teacher and help different non-native groups to practice the target language. Learning designed and instructed toward social interaction not only increases their linguistic awareness but also allows them to make friends while contributing to everyone’s learning.
By the end of the course, the teacher will evaluate the progress of different groups of students instead of giving a standardized test for all. The non-native group can be evaluated by a skit performance on the stage, a film project, and one-on-one conversation test with the instructor. Speech or presentation of an assigned topic can be used to assess the intermediate group. For native speakers, assessments to measure advanced skills (e.g., writing critiques) or service-based evaluation (e.g., performance in tutoring and activity organization) can be used.
What does class time look like in teaching a mixed-level class?
A lecture is inapplicable to this paradigm. If all students are expected to spend one-hour studying during class time on a weekly basis and the teacher has to work with each group for one hour, it increases the teaching time. We suggest two solutions: First, adopt a flipped model in a hybrid class through online technology. This will allow students in different groups to study respective learning materials before they come to the face-to-face section. Second, break the class time into three 20-minute sections. The teacher will spend 20 minutes with each group while each group spends the other 40-minute on practice. This method not only overcomes the shortcoming of limited teaching time in working with individuals but also allows students to practice under a teacher’s guidance without increasing the teacher’s workload.
In summary, personalized learning allows students to use their agency to decide their goals, needs and the best way of learning. It can not only be applied to one-on-one tutoring or cram school but also to classroom teaching. In classroom teaching, different learners identify different goals and are given different instructions, assignments, and assessments. Depending on the type of class such as face-to-face, online or hybrid, different strategies are tailored to improve motivation and engagement.
Exercise: Compare these two classes and explain which one personalized learning is and its advantages.
Scenario: Twenty students were enrolled in an intermediate level Chinese language class. Twelve students completed beginning level Chinese, including seven students who took two semesters of Chinese courses in two continuous semesters, three students completed two Chinese courses in a period of three years on and off, and two students retook a Chinese course. Two students were heritage learners who spoke Mandarin Chinese at home but lacked basic writing skills. Three students studied abroad in China and did not take the beginning level courses. One high school student who transferred from an international school in China where his parents worked abroad. One Chinese native speaker who expected to get an easy grade while he really should have not been enrolled in this course. One non-traditional student was a local businessperson and had frequent business trips to China.
Plan A
The school had a developed curriculum which was required for all parallel sections of Chinese courses. The program leader decided the goals for the curriculum and all parallel sections are expected to have the same learning outcomes. The teacher conducted a paper-pencil placement test to determine the students’ proficiency levels before class started. The tests included 20 multiple choice questions on vocabulary and grammar, 10 sentence making questions and 10 translation questions. Twenty students were placed in the intermediate level Chinese course.
For the school to get funding, teachers bear the burden to prove a satisfactory test score by averaging all students’ test scores. Teachers decided the objectives for each lesson and expected to reach the goals through lectures e.g., “Students will be able to use (a number of) grammar patterns to make sentences.”
The teachers also decided the difficulty of the lectures and the amount of homework. To make sure the average score met the school’s requirement, teachers took care of the majority and paid less attention to the overperformed and underperformed students. A paper-based standardized test was the main assessment to evaluate students’ learning outcome. Students were expected to study for the test.
Plan B
Before class started, the teacher conducted a pre-survey and one-on-one interview with each student to identify individual needs. The pre-survey included open-ended questions about “How many years of Chinese have you studied?” “How did you study Chinese?” “What do you like about your previous program?” “Why did you choose to study Chinese?” “What do you expect to learn from this class?” “What is the best way to help you learn?” and so forth.
After reviewing students’ survey answers, the teacher asked follow-up questions individually followed by a face-to-face interview. “So, you said you have spent 3 years in China, what were some good methods and materials your previous teachers used that you’d like me to continue to use in this class? Why?” “What do you expect to learn in this class?” The student said that he would like to improve speaking fluency and reading. The teacher quickly assessed his level by switching to Chinese and asking questions in different levels until the teacher got a general idea about the student’s current speaking proficiency level. To determine the student’s reading level, the teacher first asked the student to read a paragraph from the textbook at the beginning level and then asked the student to read another paragraph at the intermediate level. After the reading, the teacher asked how the student felt about the content of the book to determine his levels in vocabulary, sentence making and comprehension. All the information was collected and used for deciding learning goals and plans for these students.
The students were invited to participate in the decision making of their learning goals and study plans. The teacher served as facilitator. Before the class started, students and the teacher decided the difficulty levels of the students’ study plans together. The difficulty levels were above the students’ current levels, but students should be able to reach after making some effort. 2) After setting some goals, students were held responsible for their study plans. A student who missed a goal or assignment was aware that his grade would suffer. This method ensures that all students get a sense of fairness and responsibility for their own learning.
After the data was collected, the teacher found that students enrolled in the class were from diverse backgrounds and expressed different needs. For example, some students expressed interest in learning calligraphy while others expected to only focus on oral communication. The businessperson did not care about earning credits but expected intensive practice to gain speaking fluency and learn about the culture. The Chinese native-speaking student just wanted to earn easy credit but did not intend to contribute to the class discussion.
Plan A
During the semester, the teacher noticed that 12 students who completed beginning level Chinese courses performed best in class participation, homework, and tests. However, they seemed intimidated by the native-speaker and heritage learner. Some students expressed that they understood other students came with a language background and it was OK they were less proficient than their peers. Despite this awareness, most of them expressed difficulty in not comparing themselves with their peers and suffered pressure. The seven students who took two semesters of Chinese in two continuous semesters thought the class was about the right pace and performed better than the three completed in a period of three years on and off. One of the two students who retook the course to graduate due to low performance in the previous class still fell behind. The other showed a bigger effort to engage in the course than before. A few of them blamed that their language was rusty because the course was not offered every semester.
The heritage learners felt the course was useful as they were able to practice writing skills in the target language although homework was easy, although the lecture was way too easy and boring. The study abroad students seemed to be confident in speaking but struggled with homework and tests. They seemed confused about why their study abroad experience didn’t contribute to a good score. The high school student seemed to be ok with homework and tests but was rather isolated in the classroom. The native speaker often pretended that he couldn’t understand Chinese to not be asked to drop from the class. He talked a lot in Chinese after class but acted very shy in the class. He neither submitted homework nor took notes in class. The businessperson was very engaged in the class and always asked questions about culture even when it was not relevant to the lesson. He missed a lot of homework and rarely had time to study for the quiz after school. He felt the class did not provide much speaking practice and he still had difficulty in holding a basic conversation.
Plan B
During the semester, the teacher used a content-management system to display and organize learning resources. Students get access to a syllabus online. Unlike traditional syllabus which indicates a common objective of the course, this syllabus indicates tiers of objectives based on the pre-survey and interview with the instructor. Students are clear that depending on their goals, interest and need, their objectives are different. The first day of class, the teacher assigned students in different groups and asked each individual if they felt comfortable working in this group. “You said you’d like to work on speaking fluency. Would you like to work together as conversation partners for this class?” “… is from … I believe you can learn from each other and make progress together.” The teacher guided students to go through the syllabus and answer questions. The teacher helped each student set objectives. The homework is for each student to make a study plan and upload it online for the teacher to give feedback. The student and teacher will decide together what homework will be helpful, the right amount of homework and materials to select as well as assessment. To some extent, the syllabus provides a template for each individual student to make their own syllabus. Once the study plan is finalized and both the student and teacher agree to it, the teacher will hold the student liable for their study. If they missed a deadline, there will be a consequence. The student understands that the grading scale is to encourage them to keep on the right track, as compared with a large group language class with too much peer pressure, small groups within a class can help reduce peer pressure. This model allows students to only pay attention to their own skill level while having their peers as a motivator during the course.
Students at mixed levels watched materials suitable for their level online and completed homework respectively. The teacher gave feedback to them and directed them as to what they need to be prepared for during the face-to-face section. (Here we suggest all lectures can be delivered online. Once it is completed, it can be accessed and only requires updates. Therefore, it requires little time for the teacher to manage. In chapter 3, we will discuss how to develop a personalized website to organize and deliver multiple levels of materials such as videos).
At the beginning of each class, the teacher announced tasks for the day. For the first 20 minutes of the class, the teacher helped the intermediate group with their homework. Beginning students are practicing basic conversation in their group for 20 minutes. The advanced group practiced reading.
The second 20 minutes, the teacher answered the questions and reviewed the materials with the beginning group followed by a conversation assessment. She assigned an exercise to the group to do in the last 20 minutes.
The third 20 minutes, the teacher assessed the advanced group reading and diagnosed areas they needed to improve. She assigned homework for them.
In summary, this following section is to propose a new model for personalized learning in the digital age.
2.4 The New Model of Technology-Enhanced Personalized Learning
This book proposes a new model of technology-enhanced personalized learning where learning takes place like a recreation center hosting many sports fields, systematically planned in areas such as volleyball courts, pools, basketball court(s) surrounded by indoor tracks, weightlifting facilities, and others. Technologies are the trainers and assistants of each area, while the teacher is the manager overseeing different assistants and trainers. People can purchase a membership card to practice a variety of sports. Some may practice running on their own while others socialize with other basketball players. Some request a trainer to intensely practice certain skills like track while others do not have a particular goal. These people are the students of today’s education system. Students are exercisers practicing different sports in different facilities. Some may plan to become professional basketball players while others may just explore different facilities for fun. Some may develop several skills while others only focus on one sport.
This is the reality of the language classroom of many schools, especially small programs and new programs. Teachers constantly face a variety of students who do not always have the same expectation while enrolling in a foreign language class. Some are goal oriented to improve all skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking to pursue a career in mandarin Chinese while others may try it for a language requirement or simply for socializing or for fun. Because of that, there might be no majority in terms of interests, nor a pattern of needs identified shown in one semester that reoccur in future semesters. On the other hand, the traditional way of organizing the program by implementing a standardized requirement is already challenged by more flexible educational products developed by companies (e.g., Rosetta Stone, online tutoring programs). Why do I go to school to learn a language through testing when I can choose the best way for me to learn language skills on the Internet or on my smartphone (e.g., Duolingo)? Expecting one program fits all likely leads to one program failing almost all due to a gap between unsatisfied diverse needs in a fossilized system. The age of traditional school programs is falling behind in the digital age. The fast-paced and ever-changing technological innovations push the education system to reform. How do educators energize school language programs to retain students? Like what corporations do in product innovation, schools should also follow the trend of technological advancements and adept high tech into language programs. However, sometimes making such changes isn’t simple and easy due to issues like budget, shortage of developers, shortage of resources, and lack of understanding of today’s students’ needs. Aiming to help teachers to increase popularity and productivity and programs to increase competency, this section is to develop a new model of how to adopt new technology to enhance personalized learning.
The concept of developing a technology-enhanced personalized learning model is to design a dynamic learning community in which students of multiple levels make progress in the same technology-enhanced classroom.
Three students, Amy at the beginning level 1, Tran at the beginning level 2 and Carlos at intermediate level 1 are all expected to make progress.
Amy expected to reach beginning level 2. Tran expected to reach intermediate level 1 but failed to reach his goal. Carlos is expected to enhance speaking fluency but stayed in the intermediate level 1.
Features
- Do not expect students to start at the same level.
- Do not expect students to reach a standardized level.
- Do not punish students because they fail to meet the standardized requirement the teacher set for them.
- Measure students’ progress: learning outcomes are based on each student’s progress.
- Provide options.
- Students identify their interests and needs by incorporating personalized learning.
- Facility students need via technology by using technology to differentiate instructions.
Since the role of technology reduces teacher’s workload, teachers will use the released time for managing the class, monitoring students’ progress and guiding their study plan.
Different from competency-based education, this model does not set the same learning goals for the students nor expect them to reach the same competency by the end of the course. Instead, it adopts new technology to allow diverse multi-level students to reach different learning goals and levels. It focuses on learners’ true interests instead of what competency the teacher believes the student should reach.
Problems it avoids:
- Time wasted on waiting for underperformed students. (e.g., students who mastered lesson 1 should move on to lesson 2 instead of waiting for others who are behind)
- Time and tuition money wasted on learning content falling out of individual students’ priority. (e.g., a students urgently needs to develop speaking fluency for study abroad should not feel obligated to take more course time practicing character writing)
- Time wasted on dealing with procrastinating partners. (e.g., students should have options to choose if they want to work alone or in a group and receive guidance tailored for their needs and help leads to their goals)
- Time wasted on standardized testing. (e.g., testing is a way to measure progress, but learning is not to serve for testing. The model focuses on learning for learning and becoming a better individual.)
5. Time wasted on waiting for teachers’ response. (e.g. technology, especially AI, provides new models for immediate feedback. Such technology partially replaces repetitive teaching tasks and reallocates teacher’s load to key areas in which current technology is not able to replace humans. Social media and mobile technology also allow faster-paced teacher response.)
In summary, diverse learning styles and individual learners’ needs drive education from standard and teacher-centered learning to personalized learning. In this transition, technological innovation is the powerhouse pushing the educational revolution towards a more efficient, more diverse, and more personalized direction. Technology is a solution to overcome teacher labor shortage and allow personalized learning to take place in small, middle, and large group settings whether it is face-to-face or online. This technological trend also reshapes the roles as well as the relationship between teachers and students in a learning environment. Under this trend, the teacher’s role goes beyond knowledge delivery. Schools are no longer the major source of knowledge. Students learn from broader sources of knowledge through a variety of digital devices connected to the Internet. These are the changes in education we are facing. How to ride this technological flow requires more in-depth thoughts and practice in a tech-enhanced teaching and learning environment.
In the next chapter, we will introduce specific strategies which teachers can use to develop personalized websites to empower their teaching and students’ learning.
Chapter 3: Website Design Strategies
What strategies and technologies can educators use to design personalized materials?
Despite many teachers’ desire to serve students, the school’s budget, limited resources and teachers’ time are factors delaying the move to personalized education. For teachers and small language programs, there is a solution to use limited resources while achieving these goals efficiently and smartly. Technology plays the role of the teacher’s free assistant. The key is to train teachers to use technology and equip them with strategies to allow what we dream to happen in our classrooms.
To further assist educators in personalized website design, this section introduces a variety of software and websites to enrich educators’ website design particularly in content developing websites. Although website builders provide a lot of functions, often users need to adopt and combine several software to create certain functions and/or enhance website content.
A good teaching and learning website relies on useful and engaging content. Content development requires a variety of software and technologies as well as design strategies and knowledge in the content area.
3.1 Personalized Website Design
With the diverse learning needs identified in personalized learning in mind, we can outline what to expect in the classroom by developing materials—a personalized website design. Personalized website design refers to the process that educators develop a learning website which meets diverse learning needs and incorporates various learning options and personalized guidance for different learners to choose at the same time. It serves self-exploratory learning as well as differentiated instruction. By providing learning options and useful tools that meet various needs, the website functions as a hub/platform and empowers personalized learning. It is designed by educators and used by learners. The website features personalized learning materials, instructions, and services. It serves as a means for students to find resources beyond class time. It is like a toolbox. The teacher directs students to the website to find instructions and learning materials that suit their needs. It aims to reduce the teacher’s workload by cutting off repetitive work. For example, when a student asks a question, the answer is posted on the Q&A section which can be accessed by many others on the website. The teacher only needs to update the Q&A pool instead of repetitively answering similar questions.
3.1.1 The roles of technology in personalized learning
Technology plays multiple roles in the enhancement of personalized learning.
- Technology as the teacher’s aid.
- Technology as the channel for the dissemination of learning materials and instructions.
- Technology as a toolbox for diverse learners to find what they need to reach their learning goals.
- Technology as a hub, allowing teachers to direct and match appropriate strategies with the right students.
- Technology as the motivator to make the boring to the engaging.
- Technology as the solution and means to increase teachers’ productivity and efficiency as well as students learning outcomes while reducing management cost.
3.1.2 Challenges
Despite many advantages of technology-enhanced personalized learning, several challenges face educators and students. The most important is the digital divide. The cost for investing in hardware, devices, software, fast Internet service, and so forth enlarges the difference between rich students and low-income students, as well as the tech savvy and the technological illiterate. This has put the expectation for application of the technology-enhanced personalized learning model to all students in the same classroom under a condition of equal accessibility and affordability of technology to these students. However, the reality is not ideal and optimistic. In addition, administrators and educators’ willingness to adopt high technology and preparation to appropriately instruct students vary. Some parents may hesitate to accept new methods of learning at home (e.g., gamified learning, mobile learning) while some others are careless about what information their children may be exposed to on the Internet.
3.1.3 Features of personalized website design
In general, technology-enhanced personalized learning advances traditional classroom teaching in the areas of teacher’s time allocation on course design instead of teaching, information dissemination on a larger scale, reduction of repetitive work to increase efficiency and creativity, fast feedback collection for improvement, and changes of the teacher’s role. This chart below compares technology-enhanced personalized learning with traditional classroom teaching.
Technology-Enhanced Personalized Learning | Traditional classroom teaching | |
|---|---|---|
1. Teacher’s Time in Teaching the Content | It allocates teachers’ time to the design process instead of repetitive teaching: Once the materials (e.g., a video or podcast) are developed, they can be broadly disseminated on the Internet and reused for future classes. Digitized materials can also be adjusted more easily than handwritten documents. | The teacher designs one lesson plan and material before each class. When teaching the same class in a future semester, the teacher needs to prepare for the lesson and conduct the same lesson again. |
2.Information Dissemination | It allows developed materials to be disseminated quickly and broadly on the Internet and influences a large group audience instead of the students in their physical classrooms. | The lesson plan and material are used only in one classroom. Other teachers who teach similar classes have to design their own lesson plans and materials. |
3.Reduce Repetition and Increased Efficiency | The role of technology is to cut off repetitive work and allow the answer to a question to be heard by all. That way, the teacher’s time by answering repetitive questions can be relocated to creative work such as new course design and differentiated instructions. | When a student asks a question, the teacher answers the question. When a second student asks a similar question, the teacher answers it again. |
4.Fast Feedback | It allows quick feedback collection for improvement. | The teacher collects feedback about the course through paper-pencil surveys, student homework or face-to-face interviews. |
5.Changes of the Teacher’s role | It changes the teacher’s role into multi-layers: A web program host, a web developer and manager, and a “doctor” to diagnose audience needs and prescribe learning strategies accordingly on a larger and specific scale. | The teacher’s role mainly includes preparing for the lesson, developing the content and giving students instruction and feedback. |
Five features of technology-enhanced personalized learning
However, the advantage of using video chat is the fast pace and immediate oral feedback it provides. For example, if a student makes a mispronunciation, the teacher can correct his mispronunciation immediately or make him aware of his weakness.
3.1.4 How technology enhances personalized learning
How do technologies enhance personalized learning and serve diverse learning needs? This section goes through a detailed list of technologies and how they can be implemented in web-based teaching and learning.
Technology plays a crucial role in addressing diverse learning needs. In a traditional foreign language classroom, students of different language proficiency levels and cultural backgrounds might be taught in the same way (Howe, 2012; Prain, 2017; Peters 2016; Sahin, 2016). “Students have little or no say in how they are taught, how they are assessed, or the topics they would like to learn” (Marzano, Norford, Finn & Finn III, 2017, P. 3). Young children may not even know what they need to be prepared for in the real world let alone how to decide on what needs to be taught, but teachers may not have time to take care of individual needs. Ignoring individual differences leads to several issues. One example is that fast learners may lose interest and motivation while slow learners may not be able to catch up with the majority also leading to loss of motivation. Several problems exist in the current system: Some students are moved on to the next grade level without adequately mastering content at their current grade level while others who are ready to move on to advanced content have to wait for their peers who fall behind (Marzano, Norford, Finn & Finn III, 2017).
The teacher may consider taking care of the majority as a practical goal for teaching. As a result, such learning models sacrifice individual interest, abilities, and so forth. Lacking multi-levels of materials to use, methods to differentiate instructions and teachers’ time working with individuals makes it difficult to provide individual learners with personalized learning.
How to use the same amount of teacher time while greatly diversifying learners’ experiences based on individual needs requires innovation not only in methods but also a variety of materials and tools through technological innovation (Sayer & Ban, 2014; Calvo Ferrer, 2017).
An important concept of personalized learning is to provide options for learners to choose according to different learning styles and needs. These paths can lead different learners to the same destination while advancing their strengths. The paragraphs below introduce how to create options to advance learning. This means that to reach the same learning goals, a visual learner may choose a different path from a verbal learner.
Visual learners. The course designer may consider creating images, pictures, and videos to assist those who show preference to images and videos. Exhibiting a strong capacity for visual imagery and imagination can better engage visual learners, as visual learning style, imagination, ideal language selves, and motivated behavior are interrelated among language learners (Al-Shehri, 2009).
Verbal learners. Some learners are more sensitive to sound due to special training (e.g., musician) or disability in other organs (e.g., visual disability). These verbal learners may acquire the content knowledge faster through listening. To engage verbal learners in online learning, the designer may consider creating a variety of audio materials to stimulate and enrich audio input.
This image below shows the teacher creating audio recordings of a language text at different speeds, so learners at different levels have more options. Once the materials are created and uploaded, it requires less work from the teacher to repetitively read the text to the students. The teacher’s job switches to collecting student feedback and updating the audio files. The teacher shifts their focus on how to instruct different students to use these files.
Teaching videos also help verbal learners, as well as visual learners, to more effectively master the content of the knowledge.
Technology not only enables options for choosing multiple levels of materials but also the ways to access the materials. The use of audio options on the web may also apply to its application through mobile devices. With a cellphone and a pair of earphones, students can access the website audio file while jogging or taking the subway.
Flexibility in the way the same materials require teachers to be trained to instruct students on strategies of learning smartly in a digital-rich environment. A more detailed discussion will be given in chapter 4 on differentiated instruction.
Social learners. Besides visual and verbal learners, some learners process information faster and comprehend the content more thoroughly through socializing with other learners. To study the same content, these students are more engaged in collaborating with peers on a group project or discussing a topic with classmates. Independent assignments seem to be less appealing for social learners and they may consider individual task work as non-engaging. To serve social learners’ needs, the designer may consider: Discussion board, telecollaboration, social media, group video projects, and interactive blogs.
The designer may consider adding an option for those who prefer to work with a partner. For example, to assess students’ language performance through a dialogue performance, the teacher may offer one option as an individual video project and the second option as a group video project. The goal is to assess students’ language ability. In regard to how students reach these goals, the teachers can let students choose the way they feel most desirable and comfortable.
The use of discussion boards is another way to engage social learners. The website designers can link the website to an existing content management system or embed its own discussion board. Most content management systems such as Blackboard, Angel, Moodle, etc. have discussion board functions. The discussion board allows students to post a thread and reply to text responses. It allows teachers and students to comment on each other’s posts. Some content management systems like Moodle may allow a simple audio recording to be embedded to the text response. Some other systems like Elearning allow blog-based posting and responding. The teachers can allow quantified posts or grade the quality of students’ posts or both. The teachers can ask students to share a YouTube link on the discussion board and require peer feedback on students’ video projects. Peer feedback provides students opportunities to interact with each other, learn from each other, and become aware of their own weaknesses and strengths. They also learn a variety of examples.
The designer can also embed discussion functions by social media such as Facebook and Twitter. This method allows students to access larger amounts of personal information such as personal albums, video chat and voice chat. Often, these social media sites are easy to access on mobile devices as well.
In terms of interaction, WeChat apps provide a recording function which allows students to record an audio message in addition to text messages. The teacher can create a WeChat group and students in this group can record messages and listen to each other's audio posts. Similarly, VoiceThread also allows students to respond to each other’s audio post and record longer audio files. But WeChat may be more convenient as it is a popular social media app which can be used on mobile phones which students can access and be notified with incoming messages immediately over the phone.
Compared with video conferencing interaction through Zoom, adobe connect, these forms allow more time for beginners to think, digest the meaning, and repetitively listen to the audio prior to their audio response. The delay in response is necessary for beginning level language learners to review a message, get enough time for preparing for an answer and consolidate their knowledge learned.
However, the advantage of using video chat is the fast pace and immediate oral feedback. For example, if a student makes a mispronunciation, the teacher can correct his mispronunciation immediately or make him aware of his weakness.
3.2 Procedure of Personalize Website Design
With a decent understanding of what content materials may be effective to certain types of learners, this section introduces steps of personalizing website design.
3.2.1 Backward design
First introduced by Ralph Tyler (1949), backward design was used in curriculum design. In contrast to the traditional curriculum design methods of laying out content and tasks first, backward design emphasizes the importance of setting goals, needs, as well as foreseeing potential assessments and learning outcomes as the first step of the curriculum design. This reversed process challenges teachers to plan activities, teaching tasks and instructions accordingly to better help learners reach these goals which were set ahead of time. In designing a virtual learning community, this book suggests that educators may consider adopting backward design in developing personalized learning websites.
Before starting website design, educators can first outline the main purposes of the website as well as instructional goals. The purpose and goals of the website determines what type of layout, content, and functions best serve the users. Like curricula design, website design can also adopt backward design processes. From laying out expected learning outcomes first to tracing procedures backward in the design, this design process is called backward design. For example, if the website is designed for art students to explore different styles of artworks over history, then educators expect to have a lot of images with detailed explanations. The functions of the website builders which allow the best quality of images will best serve this need. If the website serves is for a music class, then educators may want to find a website builder which best allows audio and video functions. If it is for a language class, then the educator may want to use a variety of functions which allow students to watch, listen, read, and interact verbally and in written forms.
3.2.2 Design process
Once the educator lays out the main purpose and goals of the website, he/she can start designing the website.
Below is an example of a language website design. The goal of the website is to help foreign language teachers and students acquire free learning materials. Keeping this goal in mind, the designer lays out a homepage and several subpages.
This section introduces several strategies for website material development. In a web environment, educators can either create their own original materials and disseminate through their own websites or adopt ready-to-use online materials developed by others.
3.2.3 Develop personalized materials
The first step of personalized website design begins with developing personalized materials. Personalized materials refer to learning materials that provide various technology enhanced audio-visual-social options to meet diverse learners’ needs as well as help different learners gain perspective and expected learning outcomes. Major categories of personalized learning materials that can be incorporated on a website include image, audio, video, text, game, animation, tools, etc. This below is a detailed explanation of how to create each category of personalized learning materials via technology and the theories and research supporting their application in education.
Although the template provides plenty of background designs, to make your website unique and suitable for your class, designing your own website is important.
3.2.3.1 Creating image/video
Educators can develop original materials by using a variety of software and websites. For example, the educator can use a camera to take photos in their own class and acquire permission from their students and students’ parents. They can use Photoshop, In Design and other photo editing software to add effects and insert text. To add photos, the educator can also use a video camera to capture video during a school event. Upon participants’ permission, the educator can edit the video clips by using Adobe After Effects, Movie Maker, and other video editing software. They can export the video as a certain format such as WAV, MP4, and AVI that can be uploaded to the server of a website builder.
Here is a list of some functions of creating images on personalized websites.
- Image to introduce content knowledge.
- To share students’ learning outcomes
- To demonstrate a procedure.
- To exemplify a concept.
- To illustrate a text.
- To attract students’ attention and engage students learning of the content.
- To visualize an abstract concept and complicated ideas.
3.2.3.2 Digital camera and video camera
Digital cameras and video cameras are useful devices to collect teaching resources. They allow educators to capture meaningful moments of events, useful images as well as memorable videos for important materials for their website design. These images or videos can be stored on portable drives, downloaded to personal computers, and disseminated through personal websites and social media. A school principal took photos at a school event and posted the photos on her teaching website and shared them with students and parents immediately. Some students also use their cellphone to take photos during the events and share with the principal via social media apps on their phone. In some way, each student and teacher is a journalist who records and reports what is going on around them in a timely manner. This impromptu information circulation creates lots of meaningful resources for website design. Teachers can collect these photos and videos and post them on the website, ask students to write a story about the photos they take during an event or use some of the photos as website backgrounds.
3.2.3.3 Images, videos, and editing software
To enhance color, resize an image, and trim the photos, teachers can use image and video editing software. Variating from more basic programs (e.g., Paint) to ones that are widely used by professionals (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite), this software makes the image more attractive and professional to the audience. For example, changing the color and brightness of an image can bring the audience different feelings and emotions. For a website for younger children, editing software allows the teachers to make the image more colorful. Sometimes, editing is necessary. For example, if a brand or unauthorized person was unintentionally captured in your photo, you can edit the details out to avoid any legal problems. Some commonly used editing software includes Adobe Photoshop and Paint for image editing, and Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects, iMovie as well as software on cell phones.
3.2.3.4 Creating text
Educators may create original texts for the website such as blogs, writing samples, sample lesson plans, students’ essays, and other written materials. Some site builders provide a blog function which allows educators to easily create a blog page under the main website. Educators can record good teaching experience and share with peers on a daily or weekly basis. With students’ permission, they can also share example student essays on their website and use them as good examples for other students to read and learn from.
3.2.3.5 Creating audio
Educators can create their own audio files. For a language class, the educator can use a recorder to make a recording of vocabulary and reading at different speeds. They can upload those files on their website so students of different learning levels can listen and practice comprehension. They can also use such materials to preview a new lesson, review an old lesson or do self-assessment.
In this image, the educator records the same article in two speeds: slow and regular. Depending on the students’ listening level and need, they have options to choose to listen to slow recording, regular recording, or both.
3.2.3.6 Creating animation
Animated movie making is one of the most important communications processes of the 20th century. Once, animated movie making meant many computers and a large team of animation designers, which rendered it far away from ordinary people’s lives. The text-to-animation technology has simplified the procedure of animation production (Wang, 2016).
For example, Nawmal brings animated movie-making to ordinary people by simplifying movie-making into an almost universally accessible typing skill (see the image below for an example of Nawmal). Users are no longer merely movie viewers in front of the screen, but animated movie producers, directors, and play writers, participating in the creation process of their own animated movies. After creating an account and logging in, users follow the instructions to first select a setting and then select characters; all settings and 3D cartoon actors are already created. Without pre-knowledge of animation or movie making, users can simply type lines for the animated actors selected and the text will be automatically turned into a movie on a laptop.
Clicking “play” after typing speech for characters, users can view a monologue or a dialogue between two 3D cartoon actors under selected themes/collections (e.g. Peeps, Robots, Pawz, etc.).
Contrasted with the traditional literacy of reading (decoding text) and writing (encoding text), Nawmal signals new forms of meaning production and communicating processes, which involve typing, creating and editing text, using graphic images, recording, inserting animation and image transaction, and publishing movies.
3.2.3.7 Enabling interaction
To allow interaction on the website, the teacher can consider these methods: 1) discussion board, 2) blogs, 3) audio feedback (e.g., Voicethread) 4) video chat room (e.g., Google Hangout, Zoom, Adobe connect) 5) social media (e.g., Facebook, Webchat mobile/computer app).
Educators can insert discussion boards to allow interactions between website users. He or she can post a discussion question and ask students to comment on the question. He or she can also use a discussion board for questions and answers by creating a Q&A page. For example, students can upload questions to a forum and the educator can respond to students’ questions. These questions and answers can be accessed by other students and anyone who has a similar question may find it useful. It also saves the teacher’s time in answering the same question. For a new class, the teacher can direct students to a previous discussion board for questions that have been answered and only allow them to post new questions to the discussion board. This accumulative effort is beneficial for the teacher, as he or she can use the same website for multiple semesters.
3.2.3.8 Ready-to-use materials
There are many free materials for teachers to use such as educational websites, YouTube videos, tutorials, and many others in the public domain. Since these materials are created by others with a purpose of free use and dissemination as well as hosted on their servers, educators do not need their permission to display these materials on their own websites. Educators can link these materials and websites to their own websites. For example, the educator can embed YouTube videos into their website. If the video contains any copyright infringed materials, they will be taken down by YouTube (e.g., the Simon’s cat video channel) and often referencing the video doesn’t hold the website designer liable for the content of the material. If the designer downloads and uploads the video to their website without the permission of the copyright owner, then they may be held liable for copyright infringement (e.g., uploading a Disney movie).
3.2.3.9 Liability issues
There are several liability issues that educators need to pay attention in website design:
1) Copyright,
2) Fair Use,
3) Personal Release,
4) Inappropriate Materials for Some Age Groups.
After building blocks are developed, the teachers need to organize them and deliver them to the audience. It is like designing a store. Now, it is the time for interior design and deciding which goods are displayed on what shelf.
3.2.3.10 Create videos and movie editing
For movie editing, users can use free windows movie maker to edit video footage or use Adobe software such as Adobe Primer, and After Effects for movie editing at a professional level. Users can use Animoto templates to create video clips with music and animation as well as use Nawmal to insert cartoon figures to users’ video clips. Each software and website have unique features and can be used together by inputting and exporting videos. Then, the video can be uploaded to website builders and posted on the user's personal website.
The list below shows a variety of software and websites for movie editing which can be used in combination to diversify and personalize web design.
Video Editing: Windows Movie Maker on PC; iMovie on Apple computers; Animoto; Adobe Primer; Adobe After Effects
Animation: Nawmal
Image Editing: Adobe Photoshop
Audio Editing: Audacity
Social features: Social media; WeChat; Google Hangout; video conferencing (Adobe Connect and Zoom, blue jeans); Panopto
Once specific building blocks are developed, the designer may think of the best way to get them organized and displayed on the website. Organization of the content may fully consider target learners’ needs. That is to say, the teacher may relocate the website content based on the changing needs of the learners. Website builders make this movement and adaptation easy. This next section introduces how to create a website through website builders.
3.3 Creating a Website
There are many ways to develop a website. Before website builders were developed, people had to learn programming languages to build their websites from scratch. There are two main approaches to the development of a website: Front-end development and back-end development. Every programmer, either expert or novice, must know both to successfully “build from scratch” their own website.
Front-end web development is what the end-user sees on screen. It portrays graphic design, various hyperlinks, embedded applications, and educational games. Javascript, HTML, and CSS are the most typically used programming languages for front-end development. An example of the front-end includes the ways in which the user can interact with the website (e.g., click hyperlinks, browse the pages contained on the site and embedded video clips, etc.).
Back-end web development is behind the curtains of the user-interface, the gears of the machine, if you will. These are the services by which front-end web apps and mobile apps are given direction. Ruby, Python, Javascript and PHP are the most used programming languages for back-end web development. An example of back-end development includes the tools and functions provided by individual software such as Dreamweaver. These tools give the users the ability to distinguish and give functions to their websites. An example of this would be a calculator application embedded into the website. While the on-screen buttons and design would be a part of the front-end, the actual calculation taking place would rely on that of the back end.
After the coding is done, the programmer still needs to host the page on a server in order to make it accessible on the Internet. For most people who are not trained in programming, Adobe Dreamweaver is a handy software to design a webpage, as it requires less knowledge in programming. However, a similar issue of using Dreamweaver is that the website design process is separate from hosting the webpage on a server and links the page to a domain. Figuring out these last few steps can still be intimidating for the inexperienced.
Easier solutions do exist. Website builder applications are designed to help teachers, students, and the public to design, publish and host their own websites either for free or for a price. Most used website builders include Google Sites, WordPress, Adobe Dreamweaver, Weebly, Squarespace and many more.
The benefits to designing and creating a website from “scratch” yourself are numerous. Coding one’s own site can give you far more flexibility and freedom of end-user experience. In short, you have more control over the website you create from scratch, however the effort of learning to do so can be quite tedious. Meanwhile, “website builder” applications do most of the work for you. However, the caveat being the end-product is seemingly always a template with little of the author’s design being original.
3.3.1 Website builders
This section focuses on different types of web-builders and compares key features from an educator’s perspective.
Website builders allow people to easily develop personal websites (e.g., Weebly, Wix, Wordpress). The software simplifies complex programming processes into drag-and-drop functions. From website layout to audio-visual content, users can drag functions such as “image” “text” “video” from the manual of the website builders and drop these functions to the work area and publish the design as a completed website. Since it requires no or little programming skills for the user, website development becomes accessible to anyone. This chapter is to introduce main website-builders and their feature functions.
3.3.1.1 Weebly
In 2006, three Pennsylvania State University students created software to make website development easy and accessible to ordinary people. The user can create a free account through weebly.com. Once logged into the account, the user will see main functions such as “Build,” “Pages,” “Theme,” “Store,” “Apps,” “Settings,” “Help,” “Upgrade,” and “Publish” on the top of the page.
The “Build” function allows the user to work on a specific webpage by providing a variety of drag-and-drop functions (e.g., title, text, image, gallery, map, button).
The “Pages” function lists the layout/structure of the main page and subpages. To add a webpage, the user can click the “+” bottom on the left panel next to “Pages.” The user can then rename each page by inputting new titles and simply dragging a page tab under the other page tab to make the first-mentioned page a subpage of the later-mentioned page. The user can also choose to not display a webpage, which is under development, by clicking the eye icon or lock a page by clicking the lock icon.
The “Theme” function provides various designs of webpage backgrounds and layouts. The user can choose a design based on the need or choose not to use it but design their own.
The “Store” function allows the user to open an online store and sell products on the website. It features: “Overview,” “Orders,” “Coupons,” “Products,” “Store Emails,” and “Setup.”
The “Setting” function is used to manage the website. It features functions that are applicable to all pages e.g., general functions such as “site address,” “site password,” “SEO,” “Editors,” “Members,” “My Apps,” and “Blog.”
The “Help” function allows the user to find guidance to start a website. It categorizes common questions a user has such as “Getting Started,” “Building your website,” “eCommerce,” and “Email Marketing.” For example, how to save a website, how to add sections to a page, how to organize an online store, etc.
3.3.1.2 Wix
Wix features “Newest release,” “Essentials,” “Business,” “Online store,” “Photography,” “Music,” “Designers,” and “Rest.” It makes it easy for the user to find the best type of website he or she would like to develop. For a photographer, this layout helps him or her to directly locate the “photography” tab. Under the “photography” tab lists “Photography Must-Haves” and most common features of a photography website which directly serves the needs of a photographer. It also lists “Drive Traffic to Your Site,” “Sell Your Photography Online,” “Get More Bookings,” “Build Your Client Base,” and “Most Popular Photography Template.” If the user decides that this is the right type of website for him or her, he or she can click “Get Online Now” to start building a website.
The “Wix Features” page provides different users with clear guidance to decide what type of website best suits their needs as well as categorized information on different types of websites for users to learn what wix features can help them achieve. In comparison to Weebly users who have to explore how to use Weebly to develop a successful photography website vs a music website, Wix makes it more focused and targets particular users.
3.3.1.3 Wordpress
The front page of Wordpress features Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. Clicking on Wordpress.com, the user can start developing a website by first creating an account. “Blog posts” are displayed in a more prominent position in Wordpress.com. Other key features are listed on the left side of the page: “Stats” and “Plan.” Under publish lists “Blog Posts,” “Pages,” “Media,” and “Testimonials.” Under “Personalize” lists “Themes.” Under “Configure” lists “Sharing,” “People,” “Plugins,” “Domains,” and “Settings.” For beginners, this layout seems to be somehow harder to start with, as users need to click on the tabs and explore each function to find what suits their needs as well as how to achieve their goals.
3.3.2 Homepage
Besides programming a website, the website builders (e.g., weebly, wix, wordpress) provide various functions to quickly layout a website and organize developed materials. Dragging and dropping the title box and text box to the working area, we can name the homepage “Free Language Class” and add a brief description of the website. We can select the font, size, and color of the text. Dragging and dropping an image box to the working area, we can insert images. In daily teaching, educators can create an image bank by taking photos during school activities and downloading free pictures in the public domain. They can save and categorize these photos and images on their hard drive or personal computers. When they need images for their own website, they can find categorized images ready to use. Please note, there may be a lot of images on other websites, however, not all pictures are in the public domain and free to use. Some might be copyrighted. Often, educators need to ask the copyright owner of the image for permission to use or even pay a fee. Sometimes, these images may not be allowed to be distributed or be used by others. Therefore, we recommend educators create their own image bank which gives them freedom to use any image in the bank. If educators take photos during school events, he or she may need to ask the students, parents or individuals in the image for permission to display their image online. Here we provide a sample of the personal release form to ask for permission from the individuals who are in the image to use their image.
3.3.3 Subpages
Depending on the purpose of the website, educators may consider adding subpages to the website. If the website is designed for several different levels of language classes, the educator may create a sub webpage for each class and link these pages to the homepage. Students can find materials for their language level following the homepage and tabs for their class. If the website is designed for one language class, the educator may design one subpage for syllabus and general course instruction, a page for each module or weekly tasks and a page for assessments.
3.3.4 Strategies
What questions does personalized learning aim to solve? How does technology advance personalized learning? These are the questions personalized learning aims to address and solve. Strategies are designed to improve teacher productivity, release teacher’s time to creative work, reduce teachers’ burden, enhance teaching outcomes, and improve students’ engagement.
3.3.4.1 Priority: What issues do technology-enhanced language learning aim to solve?
The first problem tech-enhanced language learning aims to solve is to reduce repetitive work of the teacher.
A teacher has spent 5 minutes answering a student’s question. It might not be a smart use of time to repetitively answer the same question to a second or third student. The teacher’s time can be better used for creative work.
What should teachers prioritize when they are short on time to answer each individual question?
The strategy is to map out and foresee what questions students may have, post answers to a widely accessible platform, instruct students to find answers independently and avoid repetitive answering the same question. Specifically, the teacher can prioritize 5 minutes to design a Q&A on the website site instead of answering each student’s questions. The teacher can create a webpage, upload recorded answers to the webpage, and send the link to all students via email, social media, or discussion board on content management system announcements. The teacher can upload instructions of how to find answered questions and post a new question.
Through technology, the teacher can reduce repetitive work and increase efficiency.
In teacher labor shortage, this technology-enhanced method can increase the teacher’s productivity. This strategy is very useful for teachers who take an overload but still strive for good academic quality.
3.3.4.2 Levels
When time is limited, the teacher can consider breaking a big project into steps. For example, ask: “What are the basic needs?”; “What can be achieved in a 20-hour design?”. These questions help the teacher make the course manageable. Nobody is born a master artist like Da Vinci. A masterpiece takes a lot of time to complete. Similarly, designing a successful website has no need to be completed in one sitting.
The teacher can plan a month or a week of time for course design. In this time teachers can focus on what needs to be done first while other things can be completed or improved later just like building a house. Like building a house the structure and foundation need to be done before winter and the roof needs to be done before the rainy season: however, the interior design can be completed later.
This strategy informs teachers that they can break a big project into small steps. First, complete the goals of the website, students’ needs, and the layout of the website, so it is accessible to the students. Second, add personalized materials to the website. In terms of designing personalized materials, goals can be further broken down into multiple levels. It may take 15 minutes to develop photos while it takes 15 hours to develop videos. If an image is a good way to engage this group of students based on the pre-survey, however, time doesn’t permit designing fancy video streaming functions. The teacher may consider uploading photos and web resources in the public domain for the course. Later, when the teacher collects more feedback and has more time to improve the content, he or she can use time to develop more engaging videos for the website.
The concept is that personalized materials are categorized by needs. If the need indicates visual learners, verbal learners, social learners, it is important to prioritize by covering these aspects of need instead of investing time to reach high quality of materials for one category. It allows everyone to have an option, and later improve the quality of each category of materials. Hollywood movies are not done overnight. It may take time for rehearsal and years of filming and refilming and polishing.
3.3.4.3 Options
Options are the key to personalized learning. The concept of using tech is to allow a material developed at one time to be largely disseminated on the Internet. Since the audience no longer needs to be physically in front of the teacher but all go to the platform at different times and locations, options allow them to find what meets their needs as a personalized learning process. For example, the website provides options of images and audio. Learners are given options to select audio files at different speeds.
Summary
Since technology can replace human labor in repetitive work (e.g., standardized testing and grading online quizzes), teachers can refocus their time on creative works such as developing engaging and meaningful website content and learning materials. Automation in teaching through technology is the process of designing technology-enhanced websites as a teacher’s aide to better facilitate student learning.
In areas involving human emotion, technology hasn’t been able to imitate a human’s role such as decoding the meaning of a speech in a social context or getting a sense of humor. In second language acquisition, learners still rely on human interaction, emotional exchange, verbal communication, eye contact, and body language. Should teachers utilize their strengths in these areas? These activities not only heavily involve human interactions but are also time-consuming. A teacher’s time is saved with the aid of technology and can be allocated elsewhere. That’s why educators incorporate a variety of technologies in the design of personalized websites to improve productivity and reduce teacher’s workloads and, more importantly, differentiate instructions on the web.
Chapter 4: Differentiated Instruction on the Web
This chapter discusses how to use personalized websites to differentiate instructions. It suggests the theory about web-based differentiated instruction as well as a framework for future research and strategies for educators.
4.1 Differentiated Instruction
After the website is developed, how do teachers use this new platform to differentiate instructions?
Differentiated instruction is defined as “instruction that is tailored to the learning preferences of different learners. Learning goals are the same for all students, but the method or approach of instruction varies according to the preferences of each student or what research has found works best for students like them” (The U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Before developing and implementing differentiated instruction, teachers need to first identify the differences in students and teaching strategies to adjust according to what best facilitates students’ learning. To help teachers identify individual differences and find best strategies for the individuals, students also need to recognize and express their differences such as strengths, weaknesses, learning styles, and intelligences as well as develop the confidence and self-esteem so necessary for learning (Blaz, 2006).
Compared to personalized learning, differentiated instruction emphasizes the teacher’s decision making in the teaching process regarding what, how, when, and where to teach. While personalized learning emphasizes more on students’ agency in deciding their own learning despite an overlap with differentiated instruction.
4.2 The Features of Differentiated Instruction on the Web
- Efficiency
- Paperless and widely accessible
- Individualized and personal
- Budget saving
- Diverse and authentic
- Globally engaging and dynamic
These above are six features of differentiated instruction on the web: efficiency, paperless and widely accessible, individualized, and personal, budget saving, and globally engaging and dynamic. Below is a detailed discussion about each of the features.
4.2.1 Efficiency
The advantage of differentiated instruction on the web is that the teacher no longer needs to present in a physical classroom to instruct students. The learning website allows teachers to communicate with students on the Internet through social media, chat rooms, video conferencing (e.g., Zoom, Adobe Connect, and Skype). Social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, WeChat, Instagram), or video chat options can be embedded into the website. A mobile version of the website makes learning more portable and accessible. All those tools will allow teachers to differentiate instructions in a more immediate and personal way. For example, teachers can create a discussion group on WeChat for each class. No matter where they are in the world, students can text, voice call or voice text the teacher or other students any time. The teacher can reply immediately with voicemail, an image, or a video. Compared with discussion boards in the content management system, social media is more instant and user-friendly. There is no need to waste a day or two waiting for a response. If the internet is available on a smartphone, one can immediately reach out to others in the group no matter where they are in the world. Making your personalized website accessible on a smartphone and linking it to social media is a great way to increase efficiency.
4.2.2 Paperless and widely accessible
Personalized learning platforms serve as a hub for communication and information delivery. Students can respond to comments on the Internet and submit homework and tests online. Through content management systems such as Blackboard, Elearning, Canvas, and others, teachers can develop online quizzes with pools of questions in forms of multiple-choice, randomize options and question orders, set up a timer, deadlines, and automatic grading and feedback. It is a good method to assess vocabulary, syntax, and content-based knowledge. Once designed, it requires little effort for the teachers to update and spend their time on instruction. Students will have a lot of flexibility to study, take quizzes and get immediate feedback. Then, teachers can use their time on one-on-one informal assessments via video chat to follow up how well students master these questions on the test and answer questions individually.
To assess students’ pronunciation, oral expression, and reading, teachers can use WeChat Apps and VoiceThread. The teacher can assign listening and reading questions on their own website. Students can listen to the audio recorded questions and post a voice recording of their answers on the WeChat social media group. The teachers can record a response and the group of students will benefit from learning about each other’s answers.
Linking teachers’ websites to an interactive blog is another way to engage students in online interaction. Teachers can not only encourage telecollaboration but also pair Chinese native speakers with French native speakers to allow e-tandem language learning by letting them become peer-mentors and correct each other’s writing as well as learn other foreign languages.
In contrast to a traditional class with lectures and note-taking, the teachers can ask students to do handwriting outside the class to retain note-taking skills. Students can take a photo of their handwriting and upload it to the content management system, blog, or social media group as well as comment on their writing online. With cameras and video cameras, there is no need for teaching handwriting in a physical classroom, nor for students to bring their notebooks to schools. With students’ permission, teachers can publish excellent writing samples on the website and categorize different stories. Those students’ stories and creative works are great examples for prospective students which help those who wish to enroll in the class to visualize learning outcomes and thus learn if this is the right class for them. They not only know exactly what is expected but also know what they may expect to achieve if they do well in this class and next level. These categorized learning samples are engaging and authentic materials.
4.2.3 Individualized and personal
In traditional teacher-centered classrooms, teachers, as authorities, lecture in front of a large group of students. The teacher talks and students take notes, leaving little time for discussion and interaction. Individual differences are not taken care of in a teacher-centered classroom. The large capacity of students enrolled, and imbalance of student-teacher ratio brings a big challenge to the teacher. This can be overcome by online teaching tutorials.
With cameras and screen catch software, teachers can easily videotape their lectures, create teaching tutorials to introduce concepts, examples, and demonstrations. Making lecture videos accessible online allows students to preview the content at home and get prepared for the meeting with the teacher. It also reduces teacher labor from lecturing the same content to multiple sections of the class or the same class offered in different semesters. Teachers can refocus on revising and improving videos as well as differentiating instructions on the web. Fundamentally, the implementation of video tutorials in large classroom settings leads to blended/flipped classrooms as well as MOOCs.
4.2.4 Budget saving
Some teachers are concerned about the limited school budget for teachers to develop their own personalized website. Even without budget issues, teachers are also concerned about time shortage in making their own website. Where the dilemma is about time and budget, how can technology provide a solution?
If a teacher has to spend 6 hours a day to teach 100 students on a daily basis excluding hours spent on lesson planning, then that’s 30 hours a week of lecturing and possibly 20-30 hours on planning. Most of this work is not duplicated and reused. If we do the calculation in a different way by investing 10 hours on developing a learning website and some digital tutorials, then we will have a well-developed virtual learning community by the end of the semester. With website builders, there is no need for teachers to invest extra time into planning or making a perfect site before the semester starts. The free version of content builders allows teachers to post text, image, and hyperlinks, so it is easy to start with. Instead of hand writing a lesson plan, teachers can think creatively to type lessons on subpages of the personalized website to make objectives, homework, and instruction available for students on the Internet. The newly developed pages can be published immediately, and students can access them on their phone. Most importantly, once developed, the teacher can revise the webpage, reorganize content, and reuse materials for other classes and semesters. It greatly reduces teachers’ burden in lesson planning in the long run. In the next semester, teachers may realize that they don’t need to spend 3 hours a day on lesson planning but creating new tools to engage students while letting the previously developed tools continue to serve the students. To make the site engaging, they can create a YouTube channel and embedded videos to their personalized website. The second stage of personalized website development is to add a variety of options for learners.
In addition, the use of voice-recognition software solves the problem that a teacher has to repetitively correct multiple students’ mispronunciations. As such a system can correct each individual students’ pronunciation and give automatic feedback, teachers can focus on differentiated instructions on individual differences in mastering pronunciation. While the use of an online testing system releases teacher’s time from grading standardized tests. It also reshapes how tests should be used. The purpose is not an assessment after the instruction but a self-evaluation of students’ preparation for the instruction.
4.2.5 Globally engaging and dynamic
By breaking the barriers of physical walls and interconnecting the world, online classes are dynamic and inclusive. On the Internet, students and teachers in any place in the world exchange opinions and develop skills. This feature allows teachers to engage students in various ways that traditional classrooms do not. For example, materials developed in other places by other teachers can be transferred and utilized in another classroom. Study groups via chat rooms bring in external speakers from other countries.
In a foreign language class in America, teachers can invite native speakers from other countries to be study partners with their students. The language they learn through social interaction online is more authentic and dynamic, as it reflects what people currently use in social interaction instead of textbook grammar.
It is not just what to learn, but how to learn. Mastering the method benefits the learners in the long run.
In addition, students no longer do homework for the sake of completing the homework or studying for a test. Technology bridges the knowledge and tools directly to the learners and allows them to learn what they can use in daily life and apply what they learn into practice immediately. As students can gain first-hand information through communication with a native speaker in those cultures and apply their knowledge instantly into communication with that speaker and collaboration on a project, this is a more profound meaning of e-tandem learning and telecollaboration. It is no longer a linear pattern of knowledge delivery from the teacher to the student but a more complex pattern of an interconnected world with knowledge exchanged in all directions.
Not only in the areas where students turned in their work, but also different angles from which they express their ideas engage students in their participation in a discussion through the virtual chat room. Teachers can let students do a video project after learning new vocabulary and sentences and ask them to write their own stories. Although they study the same lesson, they can use the words in many different contexts. Web-based learning creates an open space for students to show their learning outcomes.
For example, a study abroad student in Scotland showed her video project by giving a tour of her campus to her peers in America. Other students can comment on her videos. Another volunteer teacher in South America gives a virtual tour of schools in some high poverty areas. Others show indigenous cultures in Brazil. In this way, learning becomes authentic and students around the world contribute to each other’s learning. Language learning is no longer limited to textbook reading and grammar study in a classroom. Breaking all barriers, personalized web classes encourage international collaboration, friendship, and communication as well as deep thinking on various topics and the meaning of the world.
Students are like participatory scholars exploring questions they are interested in, exchanging perspectives with natives, and bringing that context to the virtual class. World learners gather first-hand information across the world. By motivating them to organize these video footage and stories from diverse cultures in their creative works (e.g., cultural portfolio, film projects, and video blogs), the teachers lead world learners to build a virtual learning community. This new learning pattern allows diverse people to participate in the learning process and contribute to each other's learning. The teacher leads the group but is also a learner in this process. The leader provides direction, manages, and facilitates learning.
4.3 The Role of Differentiated Instruction on the Web
Technological innovation has greatly released humans from repetitive work. It also has allowed teachers to accomplish diversified teaching as well as enables personalized learning on the web. Considering the major features of differentiated instruction on the web, this chapter introduces the major roles of differentiated instruction on the web.
4.3.1 Release teachers from repetitive work and relocating teachers’ time to creative teaching
Language education has a long history in human civilization. Since the innovation of language, discussion regarding how to pass down and retain the language never stops. In modern days, language education has experienced a transition from teacher-centered to student-centered methods. Language teaching has always involved teachers’ labor and wisdom in instruction. However, everyone has only 24 hours a day. How to use limited time to increase teaching outcomes has become a hot topic. Without modern technology, language education was conducted by in-person interaction with teachers and students. The traditional form of classroom teaching features a teacher and a group of students. In a one-hour class period, students’ interaction with the teacher is limited by time and location. To increase one-on-one instruction, the teacher has to find extra time outside of class to take care of individual needs. In this traditional model, teachers always have to balance time and energy to spend on individuals. As a result, to increase productivity in general, the teachers often determine who falls into the average and majority to locate their attention to that group. A good example is the replacement tests often used by language programs to decide which students should be put into what levels of classrooms. This method sacrifices the interest of those who are above average or below average. Although programs which have strict budgets to assign teaching assistants release teacher labor from grading homework and part of instructions, the shortcoming of the model is obviously that the teachers are burdened in dealing with repetitive work instead of focusing on innovation.
From Teaching Labor to Creators and Artists: The role of web-builders is to release teachers from such burdens and repetitive work and thus teachers can focus on innovative teaching. First, the innovation of web-builders greatly simplifies the process of web development. Teachers no longer need programming knowledge to develop their own websites. Because each school program, classroom culture, teachers and students are different, teachers can best organize materials that serve their needs. That’s to say, each individual teacher’s website can be unique based on their need even though they may use the same curricular and teach the same language topic such as greeting. For example, in designing a Chinese language program for a college level business program vs an elementary school program, language teachers’ websites may be very different in how they introduce the topic of greeting. For adult business students, their need might be to quickly grasp the language in business settings so that they are prepared for a trip to China. However, elementary school students may need more activities along with photos and videos which motivate their learning of the language and prepare them to hold daily conversation in a less formal manner.
4.3.2 Accumulative/add-on process and advantage improvement
Since websites developed for one semester can be used for future semesters, teachers are released from copying handouts and distributing them in class. Teachers are also released from worrying about students who may lose their handouts. Since materials can be distributed online, students can access them any time and locate them via their smart phones and computers. This lessens teachers’ burdens on repetitive work of information distribution.
For future semesters, teachers need to adjust and improve the materials on the web instead of recopying and drafting the materials. Neither do they need to recopy nor re-distribute the materials. Information circulation is spontaneous through the Internet. For example, a student finds out that a coming speaking quiz instruction is out of date. The student shoots an email to the instructor or posts on the website Q&A section, the teacher receives the message and immediately responds to that question and everyone in the class can access the same response immediately. As a result, other students with similar questions can access teachers’ instruction and teachers no longer need to respond to each student who has the same question. This greatly increases the efficiency of instruction.
Updating teachers’ websites is an accumulative/adding-on process. It allows improvement based on the previous model but reduces the teachers’ burdens in reproducing materials. For example, a teacher may run a feedback page to collect useful information from the students regarding how to improve the website. The teachers can start improvement as soon as individual students turn in the feedback. The feedback can be a student survey as well as informative feedback from their performance, homework, and online participation. Once the materials are built, it requires little effort to maintain, but the teachers need to adjust based on the pre-developed materials. If there are 3 visual learners in the class, the teachers may develop a lot of materials which involve photos and videos. However, next semester, if more verbal learners enroll in the class, the visual-intense materials can still be available on the web to fit the needs of those who learn best through images. While the teacher can focus on adjusting the pre-existing materials to an audio-enhanced way to assist the verbal learners. After several semesters, the website will have a rich collection of materials which covers the broad needs of students. During this process, students can also contribute to the website development by suggesting materials that best suit their needs as well as uploading their own projects to share with others who have similar interests. As the website provides a platform for sharing, student involvement greatly enriches the add-on feature of this web-based differentiated instruction model.
4.3.3 Enables personalized learning on the web without increasing teachers’ workload
A major advantage of the website is to provide diverse learning options that best meet students’ needs. This was hard to imagine and accomplish before the digital age. (Chart: web-based differentiated instruction model – different stages of web development 1) diagnose the need and audience, 2) develop major options, and 3) improve and polish. With a rich collection of options on a developed website, the teacher can shift their focus to differentiated instructions. The teacher’s role as a facilitator and advisor. He or she is like a physician listening to the patient’s need, diagnosing the issue in language learning, using their knowledge to develop a plan just for this individual, and facilitating the individual to reach their learning goal.
At this stage, teachers are already released from grading, classroom teaching, etc. but become language artists and technological innovators; their time is greatly spent on how to diversify instruction instead of conducting repetitive language delivery. Teachers are motivators, engineers, and psychologists. Their job is to determine what difficulties students encounter accessing the materials online, how to motivate them so they can come to class prepared. As all repetitive work has been done by students before in-person meeting with the teacher, class time is best used for intensive practice based on everyone’s need.
4.3.4 Reaching out to potential learners globally
Given that a major part of instruction occurs on the Internet, the classroom extends beyond its wall-to-wall boundary and extends further to the entire global community. This has broken the traditional language learning mode. Any Internet user can be the teachers’ potential students. Thus, the next step of language education innovation is to brainstorm expanding differentiated instruction to everyone in the world. Teachers’ language teachings can be largely promoted on the web. As a result, he or she can enroll on-campus students as well as learners across the globe.
4.3.5 Advantage program promotion and class enrollment
Since all previous work is organized and displayed on the web, teachers need little effort to redraft their teaching report to students’ parents, and school administrators. They can easily reorganize the website and duplicate a new site to present teaching outcomes to the community for program promotion, boosting class enrollment and fundraising. The website functions as a digital portfolio at this stage. It is a piece of artwork which advantages the teacher in many aspects. For example, a potential student wants to know what level he may reach after taking a semester of the Chinese class. After a conversation with the student, the teacher can find a similar case based on this student’s interest, level, and need and send that webpage with a previous student's final project to the new student. This method has been very visual, direct and informative in convincing the student this is the right class to sign up for. To promote programs in the community, the teacher can also give a public presentation at the recruitment fair to students’ parents. They can show their own website with rich examples of students’ language performance as well as using other teachers’ websites to promote a language in general or for their own language program.
4.3.6 Efficient use of budget
Since everything can be done on the Internet, language classes can become paperless. Even those who choose to handwrite homework, can still upload a scanned and photo image of their handwriting online. It also saves time and teacher labor from tedious work. It allows the program to best use its limited fund for investment in creative work and thus increase teaching outcome and productivity.
Chapter 5: Conclusions
Looking forward, there are many areas researchers still need to explore. Technology has brought prosperity and a variety of options to suit diverse learning needs and allow students to choose the best way for them to learn. Technology also enlarges the gap between the rich and the poor, causing the disadvantaged to fall further behind.
In the digital age, teachers should not merely focus on their own subject of teaching, as the current system may not last. Today's learning is already reshaped by technological innovations. More activities on social media, video games, texting, and online shopping are replacing in-person socialization. Human society is experiencing a fundamental change. These phenomena alert us to new issues and pressure us to act. With changes in technology, it’s time for us, as educators, to rethink our roles in the digital age. Teachers no longer deliver knowledge through a linear path. Rapidly and fundamentally, technology replaces human labor in many aspects of our society starting from the bottom of labor-concentrated areas and moving up to more intellectually dominated areas such as education. More courses are converted into hybrid or online formats. Courses and tutorials made by a few experts in the field are duplicated and widely disseminated to most Internet users. Schools are no longer the only source of knowledge. From programming, foreign language, hip-hop dance to installing a new roof, learners can develop a variety of skills by watching YouTube videos. The transition from asynchronous and synchronous courses to MOOCs marks a new pattern in regard to how information is organized and delivered. This pattern signals a shift spotlighting a few experts or institutions in the field (e.g., Stanford and MIT). The Internet offers a free space for expression as well as invites global competition. Schools and institutions at all levels and in any region are in this competition, leaving remote schools in direct competition with the top universities for students in the virtual world. Within an institution, online courses developed by experts can be reassigned to adjuncts and teaching assistants. Increasing accessibility of the best learning resources, on the one hand, also becomes a common tactic utilized by administration in cutting academic positions, especially tenure-line positions. Such action further escalates senior faculty’s resistance in converting their courses into online formats, as materials developed over years can be handed in and reassigned to less qualified instructors too easily. More of those who conduct ordinary teaching face eliminating the pool of jobs. They not only face increasing competition from their peers within the same schools but also encounter challenges on the Internet from those with more credentials in more prestigious institutions. For many teachers and small programs, their survival is on the brink.
Learners are no longer the students who sit in a physical space listening and note-taking in a classroom or lecture hall. Learners are redefined as anyone in the world, seeking knowledge through self-exploratory learning, tailoring their own strategies to improve, and navigating through information and the vast networks by modern technology. They elevate their status in the virtual-physical world as well as define their meaning as a human in the digital age.
We hope this book can prepare teachers with practical tools which they can use. These tools include apps, software, digital devices, and websites that help enhance teaching and make their class more engaging to today's learners.
More importantly, we hope that this book helps our readers from all walks of life think about our global community and encourage a global discussion on today's issues: What is the teacher's role in the digital age? This book redefines teachers as the creators of knowledge that is deeply rooted in the technological innovation process of new technological products and services. Teachers are creators and developers. Teachers are also learners who humbly learn from our students. Teachers are researchers who constantly explore unknown realms figuring out how to learn rather than what to learn. Teachers are practitioners who apply new pedagogy and methodology into making a difference of lives and guiding individuals to navigate through the ocean of knowledge. In this age the boundary between students and teachers becomes a blur but the meaning of teachers and students is far extended and profound.
Finally, engineers and researchers from other fields should not focus on a narrow scope of their own fields. Today’s global communities are so interconnected that we no longer live in isolation. One field of knowledge is going to impact others.
With an open mind, we all should spare some time learning about other fields and gain equal expertise and knowledge in cross-disciplined areas. We cannot ignore other fields of innovation, research and practice. As some experiments and scientific practice in other fields may lay a foundation for a breakthrough in our field, they may also place great danger to our society. Innovation without thinking is as dangerous as daydreaming without practice.
To gain a comprehensive understanding, we have to bring scholars, professors, teachers, engineers, scientists, students and people from all walks of life to an open discussion on technological innovation, artificial intelligence, and humanity. We need to include all the voices, thinking about the future for our children together.
We conclude this book: It is not what to innovate but why innovate. It is not about the tools we develop, nor the speed of the development we pursue rather it is the meaning that matters most. I hope this book invites a broad discussion and profound thinking beyond the methods, tools and strategies this book has covered. In this drastically changing world, let all of us pause for a moment and just think.
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