INTRODUCTION

• There is a saying that states in teaching, one size does not fit all. This saying is true because every learner has different ways of learning. 
• As a result, teachers have difficulty to instruct a diverse group of students who have different abilities, different learning needs and levels of academic achievements. 
• The outbreak of pandemic Covid-19 had resulted in schools to close and teachers’ need to opt teaching and learning through online. This is the biggest challenge faced by teachers. 
• The best way to overcome the challenge is to differentiate teachers’ instruction online.

WHY DI?

The primary objective of DI is making sure that all individual students master essential knowledge, concepts, and skills and thus increase their achievement.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IN ONLINE LEARNING

• Differentiated instruction in online learning meets individual students’ needs by anticipating and tailoring them not only the learning online content but also how the process of information is conveyed and how they demonstrate their learning of the subject matter. 

Thus, teachers need to differentiate students’ need in online learning by:

1. Modifying the learning content (what is being taught)
2. The process (how it is taught)
3. The product (how students demonstrate their learning)

WAYS TO IDENTIFY THE INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS

There are many ways that teachers can cater the individual needs of their students.

 Teachers may use strategies such as:

1. Acknowledging diverse learning needs in the same course, classroom or learning environment. Different students have different areas and may need improvement. Therefore, students assimilate learning content at their own pace and have their own learning skills.

2. Formative assessment/ongoing assessment. Teachers need to assess students to identify their strengths and weaknesses throughout the online learning lesson to determine if they need additional support.

3. Group collaboration.  Students must be able to take part in group collaboration online activities. This gives them the opportunity and to encourage them to observe different learning needs and gain benefits from others.

4. Students’ empowerment. Teachers need students to be empowered to create their own learning online experiences by choosing the tasks that they will complete and how they will approach the online task. This enables them to become active participants.

TIPS FOR APPLYING DI IN ONLINE LEARNING

1. Give students opportunities to progress at their own pace (Practice): Teacher pre-test students to determine their understanding and arrange them into groups based on their learning progress and understanding. Some students work online to practice the skills, some group with the teacher, and some work individually with occasional support from the teacher. This practice is carried out through group links from the online platform.
2. Offer supplemental learning materials/resources (Process): Teacher provides supplement of learning links such as articles, slideshow presentation or videos which benefits all learning needs. For less advanced students, they can click on the resource link when they need additional help about the topic while the advanced students can use the resource to learn deeper about the topic. Teachers need to offer a place to students who need more additional support and find the work is too challenging for them such as viewing videos relating to topics they learn.
3. Create an individualized learning plan (Interest): Encourage students to create their own learning goals and objectives and select a topic/task that interests them most at the beginning of the online learning lesson. Use them to develop a customized learning plan to meet their individual learning needs. Students need to evaluate their learning plan at the end of the lesson to see whether they meet their learning goals/objectives successfully and may require additional support to achieve the desired outcome.
4. Find out the specific needs of your students (Learning Style): The purpose of this element is to find out individual students’ needs, to know what those needs are, to find out what they need to get out of the online learning and what do they expect to achieve at the end of the online lesson. Teachers conduct surveys and focus groups to identify what they need to know and how they prefer to fill the learning gap.
5. Clarify individual students’ expectations right from the start (Readiness): Teachers need to develop a set of clear instructions to students and state what real world benefits the online learning lesson. This expectation should be explained to the student right from the beginning so that they will know that the knowledge they learn can be applied in real life settings.    

CONCLUSION

Teachers who choose and use DI strategies in online learning will adjust the elements of a lesson from one group of students to another, so that those students who may need more time or a different teaching approach to understand the concept easily may get the specialized assistance they need.Students who have mastered a concept can be given a different learning activity or move on to a new topic or lesson.

 Disclaimer: This piece of writing is general and is only for sharing and reading purposes.

Reference:

1. Differentiated Instruction in e-Learning: What e-Learning Professionals Should Know. Christopher Pappas, 2015. elearningindustry.com
2. Differentiated Instruction slideshow. 2014, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.