Developing personalized strategies for inclusive learning - Annalisa Scacchioli

This seminar describes personalized learning strategies for enhancing a large-enrollment engineering course, a project sponsored by the 2022-2023 Rutgers-New Brunswick Chancellor-Provost Teaching Fellow Program. The U.S. Department of Education defines personalized learning strategies as “instruction that is paced to learning needs (i.e., individualized), tailored to learning preferences (i.e., differentiated), and tailored to the specific interests of different learners.” This presentation highlights learning strategies implemented in engineering mechanics dynamics course. In a large-enrollment mandatory engineering course where students’ needs and background are different, it is necessary to design strategies and implement pedagogical tools that support a learning experience that is inclusive and equitable for all. This project focuses on providing strategies to personalize PACE, PATH, and PALCE/TIME of the student learning experience. First, strategies to offer students some control over the pace of their learning (PACE) will be shared: an aera of focus in this category is how to improve course accessibility. Second, providing students with multiple paths to enhance the learning experience and to reach learning outcomes (PATH) will be discussed: how to provide students with choices and opportunities of learning is one of the main areas of focus in this section. Finally, incorporating options for when, where, and how students engage with course content (PLACE/TIME) are presented: an area of focus in this category is how to offer students the flexibility of the learning experience.