Hi Katie,

Thank you for your blog post this week which emphasized the importance of differentiated learning. The video you selected explained the topic very well, and I really enjoyed the examples they provided. In particular, I liked Ferlazzo’s example of differentiating instruction for one of his students by allowing them to write an essay on a topic which interested them. Personally, I found this example to be very effective at demonstrating how easy it is to differentiate instruction, and how one small change can successfully equip students for learning. Additionally, Ferlazzo’s use of anecdotes enabled the personalization principle to be applied to the video you selected. This helped improve my understanding of the topic, for people learn better when the words of a multimedia presentation are spoken in a conversational style (Mayer, 2014).

In addition to the video you selected, I really enjoyed reading your suggestions to make online classrooms more accessible. I agree students often struggle to pay attention during online lectures due to the conversations being typically one-sided, and a lack peer-peer engagement; therefore, I like your suggestion to have all students turn on their cameras. This will likely benefit the majority of students by increasing their attentiveness during online lectures. Additionally, like you mentioned, having students turn on their cameras will support learners who depend on reading lips and facial expressions to communicate. However, one question I have is: how can we achieve the same benefits for students who struggle with anxiety? For instance, some students may not feel comfortable turning on their camera during online lectures. As a result, what alternatives can be offered to such students to ensure they participate, and remain attentive in online learning environments?

Overall, great work!

Xinh

References

Mayer, R. E. (Ed.). (2014). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369