How many times have you purchased a clothing item with an OSFA tag?
You know - One Size Fits All. If life were only so simple!
Andriotis emphasizes the importance of course content being designed with the audience in mind, speaking to all of their differences, needs, and “sizes”. (Andriotis, 2016) As stated in his smart guide article, the course content must speak to the motivation of a learner to want to succeed.
As a digital learning facilitator, I work with high school teachers providing professional development and support in the effective integration of technology in the classroom. So my direct audience is my teacher group; however, indirectly, I also work to tailor the audience-specific needs of the student population. So, as I pondered this process of knowing my audience, I realized my ultimate goal would be emphasizing to teachers how they should go beyond the basic student statistics to gain a deeper understanding of their students and how to engage them in learning.
A significant problem I have seen is with our students lacking a desire to engage and teachers getting lost or frustrated in their efforts to keep students on track. I feel my role is helping teachers to create a technologically engaging classroom while meeting their curricular demands. Stefaniak and Baaki discuss how the ethnographic approach of studying the student audience in various settings to understand individual perspectives and the group culture would provide great insight into the classroom dynamics (Stefaniak & Baaki, 2013, p. 6-7).
Many of the strategies for understanding the student audience could be put into practice as the teachers pursue further development of the personalized learning pathways. Karla Gutierrez provides insightful suggestions for gathering data from an audience. (Gutierrez, 2017) She goes beyond the basics of demographics to collect data on topics such as group characteristics, the learning context, expectations, etc. Asking students about their learning preferences, attitudes, and perceived skills helps to create an atmosphere of belonging and engagement. I look forward to the new semester and implementing these concepts.
Sources:
Andriotis, N. (2016). Know your audience! A smart guide for analyzing your learners’ needs.
Gutierrez, K. (2017). A Template To Carry Out an eLearning Audience Analysis. SHIFT.
Stefaniak, J. E., & Baaki, J. (2013). A layered approach to understanding your audience. Performance Improvement,52(6), 5-10.
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteI love the OSFA example. You are absolutely correct, designers need to make sure they have a clear understanding of their audience. Not all tech. meets everyone's needs. Have you created a sample survey that teachers could use with their students to determine learning preferences, attitudes, tech. knowledge, etc.? Teachers may find it useful to have a sample one they can modify.
Thanks for sharing.
Amy
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteLike Amy I greatly appreciate your point that in education one size does not fit all. When I reflect on my days as a student in middle and high school teachers did not consider an individualized learner needs. If I had a teacher that was willing to jump into new theoretical waters about course delivery then I possibly could have been a critically acclaimed scientist. Okay, probably not. But my point is if my specific science educational needs had been addressed in my more formative learning years just maybe my appitude for health sciences would have emerged before I became an adult learner pursuing my first graduate degree in health science. Thanks for the needed reminder to focus on what our students really need, and not what we as instructors think they need.
Pamela
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you point that teachers can get frustrated by students who just will not engage. I'm never totally sure how to fix that, even in myself. I often get frustrated with my classes when a few students will simply not engage. Trying to create content for individual learns needs will help. I feel, however, that there are always students who just don't want to do it. If I could get 100% participation, that would be awesome... and incredibly rare. Great post!
Shaun
I really appreciate both of your comments. I am excited by all of the talented folks in this course and the new ideas I will gather.
ReplyDeleteI guess meeting student needs really boils down to the D word - differentiation. As a veteran teacher prior to my work as a facilitator, I remember attending so many workshops on differentiation whether for EC, AIG, ELL, etc. - many of the same great ideas with different titles. I think the stumbling block for so many teachers was the training never really made it back to the classroom because it was difficult for teachers to wrap their brains around how to meet the individual needs of 25 to 35 students in a class with 3 or more classes a day. I am not trying to make excuses, I am just reflecting on the gap. I see much more differentiation now than I did in the past - probably due to many factors. Technology has definitely opened doors to managing learners. I also think maybe teachers are beginning to understanding the nuances of meeting student needs in a different way. As I continue pursuing personalized learning with my staff, I appreciate any shared insights. Thanks!!
YES! I as well love the OSFA reference. It is so true, by giving learning choices, you are giving every student in your class the chance to reach their fullest potential. I love it!! Great post and I look forward to learning so much from you.
ReplyDelete