PLO 3 -- Supporting the Needs of All Learners

PLO 3 -- Supporting the Needs of All Learners

            This paper will discuss this author’s understanding of the importance of designing lessons that will support the needs of all learners by redesigning a prior MATLT lesson to demonstrate attainment of Program Learning Outcome 3 by designing “learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the needs of all learners”.  An original lesson from the course, EDU 648, will be presented, after which the redesigned lesson will integrate a technology tool that will enhance students’ ability to better express and demonstrate their understanding of the presented lesson, as well as an ensuing discussion as to some of the possible challenges of using the technology tool.

The Importance of Addressing Different Learning Styles

Howard Gardner’s 1983 theory of multiple intelligences has revolutionized the way we think about intelligence.  We all have intelligences, yet individuals differ in their respective profiles of intellectual strengths and weaknesses.  It is our intellectual strengths that will determine our preferred style of learning.  Some people are considered to be visual learners.  That is, they gain more from being able to see the thing they are learning about as opposed to, say audio learners, whose preferred style of learning favors the examination of auditory materials.

Since we all learn differently, we also prefer to express how we demonstrate our understanding of the things we are learning in different ways.

            For educators it is important that we understand the importance of designing lessons in such a way that will support all learners by offering a myriad of opportunities for them to demonstrate their understanding.  The emphasis should be more on how students learn as opposed to what they learn.

            In today’s ever-advancing world of technology, educators are fortunate to have at their disposal an ample choice of technology tools to assist them in meeting the needs of different learners.  The better understanding instructors have as to the differences of these tools, the better chance they have of meeting the diverse learning needs of all of their students (Felder & Brent, 2005).

            By using technology in a lesson plan, an instructor is able to more easily present the information to the learners using different formats that will match the material presentation to the needs of the student (Hall, Strangman, & Meyer, 2003).  Likewise, the more choices of technology tools the student is offered for them to demonstrate their understanding, the better the possibility that they will satisfy the prompts of the lesson, as well as their own understanding and intellectual growth.

The Original Lesson: EDU648

            In this lesson, students will learn and write about The Early Modern Era of history which can be divided into two periods, the Reformation (ca. 1500-1650), and the Enlightenment (ca. 1650-1800).  World history, in itself, is the study of connections and relationships among the many societies and peoples of the world.  The Early Modern period marked the coming together of parts that formed capitalism.  Capitalism, in essence means the private ownership of industry and trade.  Capitalism paved the way for liberalism, the philosophy that promotes the place of equality and liberty in human societies (Getz & Brooke, 2012).

            After The Black Death (1346-53), which killed approximately 50 million Europeans (60 % of Europe’s population), new states began to emerge.  One of the greatest was the Mughal state.  This empire began in Central Asia, but quickly spread to the Indian subcontinent.  By 1520, it had defeated many of the sultanates of Northern India.  The geography of Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and Northern Africa was more fragmented, divided by water, mountains, or desert, and so they were not able to flourish into vast empires due to a lack of communication, which enabled the Mughal, Russian, Ming Chinese, and Ottoman Empires possible.

            The Habsburg Dynasty was a powerful family that was comprised of, what are now, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and parts of Germany.  Maximillian Habsburg I (the Holy Roman Emperor) married Mary of Burgundy.  Her inheritance was comprised of Spain, Eastern France, and the Netherlands, and so the Habsburg Dynasty about doubled in land and in power with that marriage.  Their son, Charles V (1519-1556) inherited their vast territory; however, he failed to assert imperial authority throughout his empire.  Without having done so, and with internal pressure from the Lutherans and other Protestants, along with foreign pressure, especially from France, who did not want to be encircled by the Holy Roman Empire.  The Ottoman Empire also did not want encroachment onto their territories from the East.  This leads to the development of more regional states.

            Henry VIII of England confiscated much wealth from the Catholic Church and was able to enforce his rule on the nobility and therefore keep them in check.  Other Catholic kings use the Reformation movement as an excuse to mobilize their resources and enforce their demands. In 1478, the Spanish Inquisition sought to root out heretics.  Led by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle, they would hang people from the gallows and burn them at the stake if they were found guilty of heresy.  This sent fear throughout Europe, especially among the women.  The English and Dutch governments claimed limited powers and recognized individual rights and representative assemblies known as parliaments.  State policy favored trade and the building of commercial empires.

            The other side of that was absolute monarchy or absolutism, which meant the divine right of kings.  This meant that the king made the law and this determined policy.  There was no place for commoners or nobility even.  This was best represented in France and especially by King Louis XIV.  The 30 Years’ War (1618-1648) was fought between Sweden, France, Spain and Austria, mostly on German soil, began when Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Bohemia attempted to curtail the religious activities of his subjects, sparking rebellion among Protestants.  The war ended with the signing of a series of treaties that made up the Peace of Westphalia.  This established state sovereignty throughout Europe.  That meant that policy would be in the hands of the states and would no longer be under religious authority.  Also established was a balance of power across Europe.  The individual states had begun to compete vigorously for military supremacy, which also enhanced the development of Europe.

            Early modern European society was a hierarchy, with most of the people identifying closely with their social class.  People expected and accepted inequalities as a part of life.  At the top of the hierarchy were the nobles.  Most nobles gained favor and land from their king as a reward for doing well in the military.  Careers, however, switched from positons in the military to political ones. The noble landowners controlled the peasants who worked the land for them.         Throughout the 1600s, about 90% of society was made up of rural peasants who lived on farms or in small rural villages.  Their agriculture was, for the most part, based on the seasons.  They grew crops according to what the climate permitted.  Most were quite poor and owned very few possessions. Their diets were usually made up of bread, beans, peas, and vegetables; rarely any meat or dairy products.  This poverty is what led to many revolts across Europe, but the peasants were squashed each time.  Cities began to grow and flourish quickly.  Merchants, bankers, and tradesmen gave birth to the middle class.

The Redesigned Lesson

            The types of intelligence I expect this assignment and the corresponding technology to support are linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.  I wanted to use Concept Maps and so I chose the Bubblus type of Concept Map, not only because it has been introduced to me as one of the first technologies in this course, but because it is very simple and straightforward to use.

            Students will be writing about the powerful movements that transformed European society during the early modern era while they describe the origin of each, and how it affected society as a whole.  Mind mapping, or concept mapping helps students to stay on track while they are following the steps of the writing process.  By using Bubblus, they will be able to easily map out how one event led to another as it unfolded.  Color-coding the bubbles is an attractive way to put things in order and into groups.  This also makes it easier to go back and reference the groups that they have created at a glance.

            I am hoping that this technology will support all students, but in particular, those students whose thoughts are sometimes scattered when they are faced with having to write an essay.  Even seasoned writers use concept maps as a sort of blueprint to follow and to make certain that they are on track and covering all of the important aspects of writing, as well as their particular subject matter.

Challenges

            One of the greatest challenges to using concept maps is that there is always a lot of revising and editing going on.  Important events or aspects that may have been temporarily overlooked will have to be inserted into their correct frame of sequences.  Depending on the depth of a concept map, it can become quite confusing and complex if the map is overdone.  The purpose of using a concept map is to take a plan and to simplify it by giving it structure.  A concept map that crams too much information into the bubbles can be more detrimental than it is useful.  I have found that the best way to overcome these challenges is to keep it simple.  Overcrowding a concept map with too many facts can be more confusing than it is helpful.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, an understanding of the importance of addressing different learning styles, an original lesson from a prior MATLT course, a redesign of the lesson to incorporate a technology tool, and some of the challenges of using the tool have been examined.  The technology tool that was used in the redesigning of the activity was Bubbl.us, which is a concept map.  Concept maps are great tools for keeping our thoughts in order.  This is especially helpful when dealing with the writing process.  

References

Bubble.us.  Retrieved from https://bubbl.us/

Getz, T. R. & Brooke, J. E. (2012).  World history: The human experience from 1500.

            Published by Bridgepoint Education, Inc. San Diego, CA.

Felder, R. M., & Brent, R. (2005).  Understanding student differences. Journal of Engineering     Education, 94(1), 57-72.  Retrieved from 

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Understanding_Differences.pdf

Hall, T., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A.  (2003).  Differentiated instruction and implications for       UDL implementation.  Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General          Curriculum. Retrieved from

            http://aim.cast.org/sites/aim.cast.org/files/DI_UDL.1.1.14.11.pdf