1. 'The Course Fit Us': Differentiated Instruction in the College Classroom
- Author
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Dosch, Mary and Zidon, Margaret
- Abstract
As diversity in higher education increases, the one-size-fits-all, teacher-centered, traditional model of lecture-style teaching sets students up for failure. In addition, the strategic rhetoric of blaming students for academic failures keeps the systemic power in place, justifying the current system. In contrast, differentiated instruction, a student-centered instructional model, has shown success in higher education through a limited number of mostly qualitative studies. The purpose of the current study was to explore implementing differentiated instruction in higher education to understand if quantitative improvements were noted in a differentiated (DI) classroom compared to a nondifferentiated (NDI) classroom in two different sections of the same Educational Psychology course taught by the same instructor. In addition, perceptions toward the use of differentiated instruction were attained. The DI and NDI sections had enrollments of 39 and 38 undergraduate students, respectively. The majority were preservice teachers attending a mid-sized Midwestern University. The DI group significantly outperformed the NDI group on the aggregates of the assignments and the exams. However, only two assignments and one exam showed significantly higher scores for the DI group when examined individually. The DI group perceived differentiated methods as beneficial to their learning as noted on the course evaluation and survey questions.
- Published
- 2014