How can technology be used to enhance learning opportunities for students with gifts and talents?

Classroom teachers have a wide range of ability levels in their classrooms. Differentiation is a strategy recommended to meet the learners where they are in the continuum of the curriculum. Technology is a recommended tool to differentiate curriculum

and instruction. It is used to motivate and engage all students. It has been called the “great equalizer” (Farrell, 2016) as a means to provide advanced and elective courses to rural areas. Let’s face it, technology makes it easier to differentiate for the diverse abilities of students in a classroom.

Teachers use websites and software programs that provide adaptive learning in core subject areas. Students with advanced academic ability can work at an accelerated pace to move through content at a more appropriate level. They can also use technology to research information as consumers of knowledge and create products and presentations as producers of knowledge.

Frequently, we see teachers using technology to differentiate for gifted learners. Students can get on the computer to research more information on the current content being studied in class or to complete an independent study project. After the research these students must create a PowerPoint to share what was learned with the class or an authentic audience. Although they may have the same reaction, as many teachers do in a professional development session, “NOOOO, not another PowerPoint!”

One major challenge in today’s technological world is determining which apps and websites best meet learning objectives and students’ needs. These technology tools should help teachers to create authentic, relevant learning in and out of the classroom and prepare students for the business world.

Additionally, gifted students may have learned how to use various technology tools (PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc.), years before their age peers. When teachers assign students to use these tools, they may be using what they already know, which may not be motivating and engaging to them. They want to learn something new to use or what else is out there. The technology needs to be differentiated to create a continuum of technology learning for gifted students.

One way to differentiate technology is through presentation platforms. Teachers can differentiate the common use of PowerPoint with a cloud-based program, Google Slides. However, both of these presentation tools have the same functionality. An alternate step to differentiation could be eMaze, which provides unique visual platforms for students to tell their story visually with stunning special effects. Students must think more critically and creatively to create a presentation using eMaze. The next level of differentiation would be Prezi, which presents in slide-like fashion. However, to create those “slides” you must place your content on the screen and determine the order of the presentation. This is like putting a presentation on a blank wall and numbering the order of each item to be seen. You can zoom in and out and create interesting visual effects. Prezi has templates that make it easier to create your presentation. You can upload a PowerPoint slide show to Prezi and add visual effects to enhance the presentation. With all of these presentation platforms, text, graphics, videos, music, and audio can be added. All of these have multiple slides to display information.

Now let’s kick it up a notch for gifted learners and increase the level of complexity and sophistication by using the free website/app, Pictogon. A student must choose one photo that represents the theme or central idea to the presentation and embed photos, audio, music, videos and text to create the interactive story. Teachers can take students to the next level by assigning StorySpheres, which uses 3600 photos to immerse the viewer into the interactive presentation with music, text, videos, audio, music, and additional photos. StorySpheres is a free Google tool and that provides access to photos to use.

By providing the opportunity and encouragement for students to expand their presentation platform repertoire, teachers can challenge gifted students to think more critically and creatively using new technology. This is one simple way teachers can differentiate technology for gifted students and prepare them to be college and career ready for the 21stcentury.

Author: Shirley J Farrell is an assistant professor and program coordinator for gifted education at Troy University.

ABSTRACT

For gifted and talented students, differentiated instruction is a significant teaching approach to ensure that each student’s needs and abilities are met. Research shows that technology can be used to facilitate the differentiation practices. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of Saudi teachers about using technology to differentiate instruction with gifted and talented students. The participants included Saudi teachers who are using technology as a tool to differentiate the instruction for gifted students. The findings indicated that technology is used to differentiate classroom instruction in different ways and for different purposes. Several academic and instructional benefits of using technology to differentiate instruction were reported, and the challenges that teachers encounter when applying differentiation through technology were identified.

EducationWorld is pleased to present this article contributed by Neven Jurkovic, CEO of Softmath and creator of Algebrator, a widely used math tutoring software.

The one student population whose needs have been most ignored throughout the No Child Left Behind testing era of the past decade is undeniably gifted students. As school districts have been urged to “close the gap” between high- and low-performing students and between various subgroups of students, it seems they’ve taken that mission quite seriously: vast resources go toward helping struggling students attain certain standardized measures of success. At the same time, gifted students’ needs are often ignored, if not sabotaged). They are already “good enough,” and, after all, the easiest way to close the gap between high-achieving and low-achieving students is to slow down the progress of the high achievers.

Thankfully, the dramatically increasing rate of technology use in the classroom has the potential to help teachers more effectively meet the needs of gifted students without sacrificing their efforts to help other students. Here are four key ways technology–particularly 1:1 technology–can be used to meet the needs of gifted learners of all ages.

Content differentiation

This one is straightforward: gifted students often need to be taught entirely different, more advanced material than their peers. Through the use of free online college courses or even just the free video library of KhanAcademy.org, a wealth of advanced content is available for gifted students to tap into at anytime, from anywhere. Through the use of video technology (whether using existing videos or creating your own), planning a differentiated lesson where different students receive different instruction is simple.

Differentiated assignments

Not only can the content students are learning about be differentiated easily through the use of technology, but so can the tasks that students are asked to complete. Adaptive math programs that get easier or harder based on students’ responses can replace static, unresponsive math textbooks, for example. Gifted writers who used to write papers for an audience of one person (their teacher) can now be helped to develop a significant, real audience as they create individual blogs showcasing their talents. In all subjects, technology can allow students who are performing far above grade level to progress as rapidly as they are able.

Interest-based choices

Many gifted students have specific areas of deep interest or expertise. Internet-connected 1:1 technology permits students to research those interests, find and communicate with others who have those interests, and then present their findings powerfully through the use of multimedia. (No more fifth-grade biography reports where students can only research one of the 40 or so individuals about which there is a book in the school library.) This benefits all students, of course, but it is particularly important for those gifted students with interests that wander far off the beaten path.

Communication tools

Finally, gifted students are often starved for relationships with academic peers. In smaller schools, gifted students may be genuinely unable to find even one true academic peer with similar interests. In contrast, 1:1 technology provides students like these with opportunities to connect and communicate with others (from anywhere around the globe) who share their interests and abilities.

Technology has the potential to revolutionize education for all students. If used wisely, it can do particularly remarkable things for the gifted students who so often are not given the freedom and opportunity to maximize their potential.

About the author

Neven Jurkovic’s interest in teaching mathematics with technology developed while pursuing a Master of Science degree at Southwest Texas State University. Apart from publishing a number of papers on the application of artificial intelligence in elementary mathematics problem solving, Neven is the CEO of Softmath and creator of Algebrator, a widely used math tutoring software.