While e-learning is becoming increasingly important for organisations, the latter are confronted with the major challenge of varied learner profiles. Course content designers must therefore figure out which strategies to adopt to ensure learners get a learning experience that is suited to their profile and specific needs. In this article, you’ll discover how differentiated pedagogy allows us to address this challenge.
The flaws of a one-size-fits-all approach to training
Adult learners carry with them baggage from past academic and professional experiences, combined with varied skills levels and expectations. In their reference work, researchers, Jonassen and Grabowsk (2012) explain how individual differences among learners (aptitude, learning style, etc.) have a direct impact on knowledge retention and motivation.
However, many digital courses are still designed as linear, standardised pathways; failing to take these differences into consideration. Such an approach goes against adult learners’ aspirations. By way of an example, 70% of adult learners feel that a personalised learner experience is a source of motivation (Training Insiders, 2024). Rigid, standardised learning pathways can cause learners to lose interest. Differentiated pedagogy is an essential strategy for supporting ongoing learning, as we are about to see.
Differentiated pedagogy: a solution everyone will love!
Differentiated pedagogy is based on the premise that every learner has unique needs and that effective training should propose several kinds of access to knowledge. Researcher, Carol Ann Tomlinson has more specifically identified four key elements of differentiation:
- Content: proposing several formats (e.g. texts, podcasts, infographics, etc.).
- Process: enabling each person to learn at their own pace (e.g. free access to modules in due course, adaptability of difficulty level).
- Product: offering various methods for testing learning results (e.g. role plays and reflective logbooks).
- Environment: adapting the learning environment to users’ preferences (e.g. social learning, synchronous or asynchronous interactions).
These elements take on their full meaning in the case of adult training, because in organisations, learners are primarily seeking flexibility, practicality and direct application of newly learned information to their professional tasks.
Best practices for implementing differentiated pedagogy
Due to its specific features, mobile learning, (learning any place, any time), lends itself easily to differentiated pedagogy. Here are our top 3 best practices for allowing all learners to enjoy a differentiated mobile learning experience.
1. Offer a modular and adaptive pathway
Rather than proposing rigid pathways, guiding learners towards the modules they are most interested in, based on their initial level of knowledge and their needs, can be a source of motivation. For example, you could enable learners from the same company to choose from:
- Beginners’ cyber safety training for those with a basic grasp of the topic
or
- Advanced cyber safety training for those already involved with IT risks
With Teach on Mars, you can configure Recommendation quizzes to offer learners courses that are suited to their pre-existing knowledge level, based on their quiz answers. You can also recommend one or several personalised Learning Path with ease, based on their professional profile for instance, (e.g. training aimed at HR managers versus on-the-ground training for sales team managers) or seniority (e.g. onboarding pathways for new hires versus more advanced pathways regarding company information for senior staff).
2. Vary formats to suit learning preferences
Each person has their own learning style. Some people retain information better through immersive videos, while others prefer podcasts or diagrams. A good mobile learning course should therefore incorporate a variety of activities and formats in order to benefit as many learners as possible.
With Teach on Mars, you can add to your Mobile Courses:
- Audio extracts of employee-customer interactions,
- Infographics about a product composition,
- Short explanatory videos of a CSR topic,
- An illustrated talk about your brand history.
As part of an inclusive approach, you should also ensure that your evaluation activities offer a variety of media formats, as well as textual questions. Native Teach on Mars activities, such as Guess What and the Sushi Game, allow you to add images and questions.
3. Incorporate interactive and personalised scenarios aimed at a wide general audience
Using interactive and tangible scenarios is particularly effective for engaging learners. Instead of a quiz focusing on declarative knowledge (facts, lists of points, dates, etc.), an HR course for example, may propose a scenario inviting learners to make decisions based on dilemmas in the work place.
With the Training Game, immerse learners in practical role play situations, enhanced with authentic images (e.g. a photo of a typical customer, a product gift pack, etc.). You could create variations of the Training Game (e.g. beginner, intermediate or advanced levels) and share the access code to the relevant type once the learner has completed a Profiling activity, in which they express their training needs for professional role play situations.
For more engaging and effective mobile training
In short, differentiated pedagogy is a great deal more than just another learning approach: it is crucial for creating impactful courses. By adapting content, formats and pathways to learners’ specific needs, you can maximise their engagement. Mobile learning lends itself particularly well to differentiation: so, are you ready to harness it to make your courses a success?
Sources :
Jonassen, David H., and Barbara L. Grabowski (2012). Handbook of individual differences, learning, and instruction. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203052860
Morin, O. (2024, février). L’Ascension de la Personnalisation dans la Formation Professionnelle. Training Insiders. https://www.training-insiders.com/blog/vers-un-avenir-connecte-innovation-et-personnalisation-dans-la-formation-professionnelle?
Expert en didactique et passionné de langues et de technologies éducatives, Kevin se spécialise dans la formation aux adultes en contexte présentiel, hybride et à distance (e-learning). Fort d’un parcours de 10 ans en tant qu’enseignant-chercheur au sein de grandes universités canadiennes, il souhaite désormais mettre à profit son expertise pédagogique au service des entreprises afin de les accompagner dans la conception de parcours de formation favorisant la réussite et l’inclusion.
