Personalised Learning. Now there’s a term that means different things to different people! If we consider technology and in particular G Suite, the term becomes a little more meaningful and practical.
With technology, and even more so with 1:1 deployments, we now have the tools to take a more learner centric approach. Tools to enable learning to be more personal, and to let our pupils choose what they use, when they use and how they use technology to support their individual needs.
A bilingual student studying in English, a struggling reader, a high achiever, a dyslexic pupil – everyone has their own needs and approaches to help them learn.
G Suite is a great leveller – a platform that’s extensible and allows each school or even pupil to choose add-ons and software that help where help is needed. It’s important though to guide this choice at the outset and constantly re-evaluate those tools to ensure they make real impact and are embedded in the technology that’s central to teaching and learning.
In doing so, we create a backpack for learning – the new pencil case of tools that help us learn. What goes into this backpack is important – tools for everyone, tools that can be embedded in professional development and that support learning school wide. These tools need to support independence, build confidence and enable creativity.
At Texthelp, we’ve built our very own toolkit for Google schools. Products like Read&Write that support and drive attainment in literacy. FluencyTutor for reading groups – encouraging pupils to read more and understand their reading by recording passages and reflecting on their progress. With WriQ we provide a method for measuring progress with writing, and with Snapverter pupils have a way to make any content digital and accessible. Add to that EquatIO – a fabulous tool for maths and STEM classrooms to allow pupils to easily add maths into digital documents and you’ve got a great starting point for Literacy and Maths as part of a GSuite deployment.
From there, G Suite enables creativity with platforms like WeVideo and Explain Everything. SPRK for programming, SeeSaw for parental engagement and kahoot for gamification and every point in between.
It’s an incredible toolbox and we owe it to our pupils to provide a rich set of tools to fill it. In doing do, we give them choice and voice and enable them to make their learning journey with us personal.
Have a look at what we do at www.texthelp.com , consider the tools and start building a backpack for learning that supports every student.
