wiki:ExpLearners

Version 4 (modified by mastermanl, 7 years ago) (diff)

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The Learners (Students)

Numbers

  • How many students will there be?

Numbers can affect the sorts of activities that students can realistically do, as well as the technology you can use. Here's a cautionary example of the impact on the tutor's plan when a seminar was over-booked:

Source: MoD4L project report Aug 2006. Need permission to reproduce.

"...with the activities originally intended to be undertaken in small-groups of around 3 before leading into a wider discussion, there were simply too many [students] to allow for the activities and subsequent sharing of views to be undertaken in a focussed, timely manner."

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Learner characteristics

Consider the characteristics of individual students, or the class as a whole, that may influence your choice of learning activities and tools. These include:

  • Learning styles
  • Differentiation, including special needs
  • Linguistic competence (e.g. ESOL)
  • Culture/nationality
  • Accessibility -- what assistive tools might be needed? (See Ellen's i/v)
  • Social and interpersonal skills] -- e.g. use of (anonymous) forums to encourate participation by more reticent learers
  • Competence in key skills -- ICT, literacy, number
  • Attitude to their own learning] [what would this map to? Activities to match/develop their attitude towards learning? Appropriate teaching approaches?]

START HERE NEXT (as part of each item) what you need to do: e.g. allow more time, print handouts in large fonts; use coloured backgrounds in online materials). (May need to include links from specific characteristics to tools that can meet/address these characteristics in specific ways e.g. assistive software for reading; Inspiration for dyslexia; concept-/mind-mapping tools for visual learners; extensions to Word etc. (need help from TechDis? etc. here).

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