2.5: Designer

Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability. Educators:

a. Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
b. Design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.
c. Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.

This standard really gets behind the idea of designing meaningful and pointed experiences for students that accommodates all types of learners. While learning about Educator Standard 5 (Designer), I was allowed the time to take a look at the intentionality behind my formative assessment tools and really dive head first into designing authentic activities that “foster independent learning” while, “accommodating learner differences and needs”. This led me to my exciting findings of technologically enabled exit-tickets! Read about this huge lightbulb moment for me in my post, Tools for Analyzing Formative Assessment.

Once I got on the tech kick of finding amazing resources that enabled me to maximize learning while my students were having fun, I was able to develop an even deeper understanding of how to apply instructional design principles into projects that pushed my students’ active learning to the next level. Throughout the DEL program we engaged in multiple projects planning global collaborative projects, but one of my favorite ones revolved around my students working through a process to design their own classroom. Learn more about my students’ opportunity to create their own learning center in my post, Reimagining a “Classroom”.