Differentiation (Evaluate 3.1.1)

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Effective teachers, understanding that students have different types of learning styles and needs, differentiate instruction in the classroom.  For an online instructor, analyzing the grade data for a course (as seen in the heatmap above) can be the first step toward making informed decisions about differentiation for students.

Differentiation doesn't simply mean that the teacher is trying to reach low-performing students, though that's often the context in which we understand it.  While differentiation is certainly one way that teachers can reach those students who do not seem to be mastering the material, it can also be a tool to provide more challenging work to higher-performing students.  We want to be making sure that our students are all receiving the attention that they need to be able to work to the best of their ability, and sometimes that means customizing an assignment for a student or changing the order in which a student will complete the assignment.  In the heatmap above, there is a wide range in student performance; some of the students are receiving the highest marks on nearly every assignment while others are consistently receiving low scores.  Additionally, there are some students who are not attempting the material at all and have many grades of zero.  For those high-performers, the teacher may want to suggest a more in-depth analysis for the next assessment (while being sure not to simply overload the gifted children with busywork).  For the lower-performing students, the teacher may wish to hold a synchronous review session or provide resources that could help with remediation.  And for those students who are not attempting the material at all, the teacher will need to contact the parent and document that communication.

This data can also be valuable for an educator when reflecting on the quality of the assessment.  If certain test questions are missed by a large percentage of the students, then the teacher may want to revisit the question itself.  If the question seems sound, then perhaps the teacher will want to review the material being tested in that question with the entire class.