individualized path

I know I've talked about this before, but we've really tried to incorporate personalized learning into all aspects of our new Coaching Partnership course. One way we've done this is to offer each participant an individualized experience in the course. Each instructor chooses a domain (Grading, Live Learning Sessions, Homepages, Discussions, or Communication) as their focus. Then, they plan their PEERS goal around that domain. We offer resources for each domain, but also encourage them to research and use what they think will work best for their students.

Each instructor completes the same assignments in the course:

• Fishbowl Walkthrough of their cohort's courses

• Goal-Setting Discussion

• Setting Your Plan Co-Planning Session (can be asynchronous)

• Mid-Cycle Co-Planning Session (can be asynchronous)

• End-Cycle Co-Planning Session (can be asynchronous)

• Gallery Walk Assignment

• Gallery Walk Discussion

• Final Reflection

But within the parameters of those assignments, they are able to freely choose their focus and how they are going to accomplish their goal. Throughout this process, they are continually self-assessing what is working and what isn't. The instructors in this course come from all different content areas and backgrounds, so we have a diverse group of participants, goals, and strategies.

The coaches do a great job encouraging each participant's individual path through the course in terms of their individual PEERS goal and strategies used to make progress towards the goal. At each co-planning meeting, the participants are encouraged to reflect on what is going well and what might need to be adjusted.

This is the first time we've done this course for a full year, and our courses run on semester schedules, so it is entirely possible that an instructor might decide to switch strategies or adapt their strategy at the mid-year point after analyzing their data from the first semester. And this is okay! Not only is it okay, it is encouraged! We want folks to reflect and change course if that is what is best for their students.

And finally, in the end, it is so interesting to see their data and what they worked on. Regardless of the subject, past participants have almost always found something useful from the other participants' Gallery Walk presentations. Below are some examples:

You can see that each person implemented different strategies, but they all demonstrated mastery on our objectives of the course:

1. Set a PEERS goal.

2. Implement a student-centered strategy.

3. Decide what data to collect to determine if the strategy is working.

4. Compile and analyze results.

5. Reflect on your progress towards your goal.

references

Bray, B. (2018, May 8). Opportunities for choice: The learning path to advocacy and Innovation. Rethinking Learning. Retrieved February 2, 2022, from https://barbarabray.net/2018/05/08/continuum-of-choice-choosing-the-learning-path-to-find-passion-and-purpose/

Fisher, Douglas B., and Frey Nancy. “The Good, the Bad, and the New Plcs.” Corwin Connect, 1 Mar. 2021, https://corwin-connect.com/2019/05/the-good-the-bad-and-the-new-plcs/.

McConnell, Tom J., et al. “Virtual Professional Learning Communities: Teachers’ Perceptions of Virtual versus Face-to-Face Professional Development.” Journal of Science Education and Technology, vol. 22, no. 3, 2012, pp. 267–277., https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-012-9391-y.

Rytsev, D. (2021, August 8). Individual learning path: How to design and manage. Strategium Space: Innovations in Management. Retrieved August 23, 2022, from https://strategium.space/en/lesson/individual-learning-path/