Tools For Independent Learning

One of the best features of MCL is it requires independent learning on the part of the student.  This, of course, has educational merit, but my observations have indicated that independent learning tends to lead to higher levels of engagement.  Here are some tools that have proven helpful.

• Video Lessons: These can take a couple forms, but they all have the same outcome.  Students can point and click to view a direct instruction video on the topic of study.  Video lessons can be homemade (I make mine as self-playing Keynote slideshows that I export and upload as Quicktime files) or from public sources.  The benefits of homemade video lessons are that you know they will remain available, you know they won't be blocked by internet filters, and most importantly, students receive the exact, word for word content that you intend for them to receive.  Using videos from other sources can be a time saver, plus they sometimes include higher quality content/images than a homemade video lesson.  Regardless of which you use (I use both), students have access to the content you wish them to engage in and can review the direct instruction as much as they want, when they want.

• Checklists: Most students thrive in an environment where they know exactly what they need to do on a step by step basis.  As my students work toward meeting standards, they work through multiple series of checklists that include required tasks selected by me.  Built within the checklists are opportunities to work alone, work with partners, receive direct instruction, play games, complete worksheets, create teacher/self selected projects, and more.  Students get to choose which checklists they are working through which is a big plus.  The other day, I was talking with a student about the option to move from one series to another.  He just let out a sigh of relief and said, "I like that."  This is no surprise.  Some students get in a zone and need to keep working with a single focus while others need frequent shifts of focus to maintain their engagement level.  The shift for students is as easy as viewing a different checklist.

• Electronic Classroom Management: The folders, files, cabinets, and trays of the 20th century classroom are being increasingly replaced with electronic tools like Moodle and StudyWiz.  In my class, Moodle is used as a platform for sending and receiving the majority of educational content.  Students download checklists and other documents, click on links to multimedia resources, complete and submit assignments/quizzes/projects, receive prompt and specific teacher feedback, and more.  What really makes this a tool of independence for students is the ability to access "classroom" content in the library, at home, anywhere there is an internet connection!  With organizational difficulties being one of the typical challenges of young adolescence, Moodle is a lifesaver for many students.

• Progress Charts: Even in the traditional model, where all students are roughly working on the same content at the same time, young adolescents at times forget where they left off.  This is even more an issue in the MCL classroom.  Students will likely be working on content that is entirely different from their neighbors.  This is where progress charts are very helpful.  Students need only walk to the wall of charts to view their current progress.  Set up in spreadsheet form, these charts allow students to see what they are currently working on.  The charts take two forms.
• Standards Met Charts: As standards are met, the correlating boxes are marked with an X or filled.  This works well with standards that are largely knowledge based.
• Level of Skill Charts: As students develop a skill (that correlates to one or more standards), boxes are gradually filled to show this development.  This works particularly well with content that develops over the long term, like writing.  A student might begin the year writing narratives of a quality that only partially meets the standard.  Over time, the student develops his/her writing skills, producing higher quality narratives that warrant filling in of more boxes.

Using these tools and others, students are becoming more and more independent.  It has been noted by some that this is excellent training for the online courses that will likely play a major role in the future of higher education.  Most importantly, students working independently appear to feel a sense of freedom that leads to engagement.