INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION

Individualized learning or individualized instruction, is a method of teaching an which

content, instructional technology and pace of learning are based upon the abilities and
interest of each leaner closely related to personalized learning, goals based on
curriculum design and standards may be the same for all students, but the
individual learning profile and plan for each student may vary. This is because each leaner
progresses through the material at different speeds, according to his or her own learning
needs and abilities. For example a student might take longer to progress through a given
topic, skip topics that cover information already known, or repeat topics on which they
need more help.
Individualized instruction is a teaching method that tailors instruction to the needs
and learning styles of the learners in a regular or mainstream classroom. This means that
classes are differentiated. In individualized instruction there are few general lectures by
teachers. The teacher moves around the classroom monitoring the progress of individual
students and giving specific help where it is needed.
The learning goals remain the same for all learners in the class but the learning
contents, instructional materials and pace of learning are varied by teachers according to
the abilities and interests of individual learners. Learning materials include audio, video,
textbooks and computer assisted instruction and they are varied according to the learning
styles of individual learners. Students must have the motivation and construct their own
knowledge.
Students proceed at their own pace through the content. The talented ones move
on quickly and are given additional work which is more challenging, while the slower ones
take the time they need. Students are therefore functioning at different levels in the same
classrooms. Computers and the internal are very helpful in this context. Teachers need to
be trained to deliver individualized instruction effectively.
Individualized instruction is more effective than a generalized approach to teaching
and learning. Some teachers may think that it is difficult and more time consuming, but
with training and experience these obstacles can be overcome.

THE SEVEN LEARNING

STYLES
(spatial): Using pictures, images and spatial understanding.
2. Aural (auditory-musical): Using sound and music.

1.

Visual

3. Verbal (linguistic): Using words in speech and writing.

4. Physical (kinesthetic): Using your body,
hands and sense of touch.
5.
Logical
(mathematical): Using logic, reasoning and systems to explain or understand concepts.
6. Social: These people are the ones who enjoy learning in groups or with
other people and aim to work
others as much as possible.
7. Solitary: The
solitary learner prefers to learn alone and through self study.

INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION STRATEGY

Individualized instruction is also known as
differentiated instruction. Individualized instruction strategy refers to those classroom
practices of teaching which recognize the uniqueness of each student learner and thus
provide for adequate tutorial guidance and other support services suited to bring about a
wholesome development in the person (mind, body and spirit).
Individualized instruction is about using teaching
strategies that connect with individual students learning strategies. The ultimate goal is
to provide a learning environment that will maximize the potential for student success.
Differentiated instruction is an instructional theory that allows teachers to face this
challenge by taking diverse student factors into account when planning and delivering
instruction. Based on this theory, teachers can structure learning environments that
address the variety of learning styles, interests and abilities fond within a classroom.
In
this
strategy the teacher should not always stick to the same pattern of teaching rather they
should adapt new ways such as teaching through audio, video, field trip etc. so that
students have multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas. To
differentiate or to individualize instruction is to recognize students varying background
knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning, interests and to react
responsively. The intent of individualizing instructions to maximize each student where he
or she is and assisting in the learning process. It provides the opportunity for students to
learn at their own pace, in their own way and be successful.

PURPOSES OF INDIVIUALIZED STRATEGY

*To enhance and develop listening habit.
Since most of the teaching is done through lecturing, the role of
students are to listen and if felt necessary take note of them. The learning of the learners greatly dependent on
their listening habit and sense of hearing, thus helping them in enhancing their listening habit.

*Enable the teachers to explain a lesson or demonstrate a technique to small

group of students at a time.
Here the smaller the numbers of

students are the greater is the advantage of the teachers in teaching or explaining a lesson or to
demonstrate a technique to their students. In short smaller the number of students, more efficient the
teaching or demonstration will be.
*Individualizing instruction allows each student to progress through the
curriculum at his or her own pace.
It aims at how much the

learner learn and pace at which they learn. Less important is given to covering the topics in the
curriculum. Vital importance is given to the progress the learner are making in the field of learner at his
or her own pace(the rate and speed at which they learn).
*Long term retention as they note down what they usually understand.

While the teacher is teaching in the class, students are actively

engage in taking note of what they really understand instead of what the teacher explain. They usually
note down what they understand and are usually listed in their own words. So, these help them to retain
the information for a longer period of time.

*Importance is given to a child as an individual not as group, class and so

on.
The strategy is more concern about how much a
single child is able to learn, retain and his or her progress not as a group, class and team. As the current
phase of children education says no child is left behind. So, the focus is on a child as an individual.
Principles of Individualized Instruction Strategy.
1.

Make the students clear about the key points and generalization to make sure that all learners gain a

powerful and strong understanding so that they can have a good foundation for their future learning.
Teachers are encouraged to identify essential concepts and instructional focuses to ensure all learners
understand.
2. Use assessment as a teaching tool to extend versus merely measure instruction. Assessment should
occur before, during, and following the instructional episode. The assessment carried out before and
during can be incorporated into classroom practice; it provides information needed to adjust teaching
and learning while they are happening. E.g. Observation, questioning strategies, self and peer
assessment, students record keeping. The assessment carried out before and during instructional episode
is called formative assessment. And the assessment evaluated after instruction is called summative
assessment. It is carried out every few weeks, months, or chapter tests. E.g. End of unit or chapter tests,
end of term or semester exams.

3.

Emphasize and stress more on critical and creative thinking while designing a lesson. What ever task
and activities that we provide to the students should be up to the students level and understanding, so
that they can understand easily and will apply meaning. Instruction may require supports, additional

4.

motivation, varied tasks, materials, or equipment for different students in the classroom.
Engaging all learners is essential. We should engage and make the students participate in class

activities. For that teachers should develop their lesson to engage and motivate the students.
5. Provide a balance between teacher-assigned and student-selected tasks. If there is a balance between the
task and activities that are assigned by the teachers and the tasks selected by the students, the learning will
be most favorable and desirable.
Requirements of individualize Instructions.
1. Each student learn differently
Some students are kinesthetic learners, requiring a hands-on approach to learning. Some students learn
visually, excelling when they can read or see photographs of the material. Finally, some students learn
best through listening, learning best when they can hear and talk through a problem.
2. All students are talented in different ways.
While one student may be creative, another student may be analytical. While one student may be
mechanical, another student may excel at writing. Teaching requires differentiated and individualized
instruction in order to reach all students.
3. Educating children with special needs.

Special Education is a specialized area of education which uses unique instructional

methods, materials, learning aids, and equipment to meet the educational needs of
children with learning disabilities.

Remedial instruction aims to improve a skill or ability in each student. Using various
techniques, such a more practice or explanation, repeating the information and devoting
more time to working on the skills, the teachers guide each student through the
educational process. A student that might, for example, have a low reading level might be
given remediation.

4. It is to meet the unique educational needs of the child.

The IEP is intended to help children reach educational goals more easily than they otherwise would and
must especially help teachers and related service providers understand the student's disability and how
the disability affects the learning process.

5. Teaching requires differentiated and individualized instruction in order to reach all students.
Differentiating does not mean providing separate, unrelated activities for each student but does mean
providing interrelated activities that are based on student needs for the purpose of ensuring that all
students come to a similar grasp of a skill or idea.
6. Careful and continuous assessment of individual progress can be carried out.

Ways of Individualizing/Differentiating Instruction.

Several key elements guide individualized instruction. Tomlinson (2001) identifies three elements of the
curriculum that can be individualized or differentiated: Content, Process, and Products.

Content
Content can be described as the knowledge, skills and attitudes we want
children to learn. Individualizing content requires that students are pre-tested so the teacher can identify
the students who do not require direct instruction. Students demonstrating understanding of the concept
can skip the instruction step and proceed to apply the concepts to the task of solving a problem. This
strategy is often referred to as compacting the curriculum. Another way to individualize of differentiate
content is simply to permit the apt student to accelerate their rate of progress. They can work ahead
independently on some projects, i.e. they cover the content faster than their peers.

Several elements and materials are used to support instructional content.

These include acts, concepts, generalizations or principles, attitudes, and skills. The variation seen in an
individualized classroom is most frequently the manner in which students gain access to important
learning. Access to the content is seen as key.

Align tasks and objectives to learning goals.

Designers of individualized instruction determine as essential the alignment of tasks with instructional
goals and objectives. An objectives-driven menu makes it easier to find the next instructional step for
learners entering at varying levels.

Instruction is concept-focused and principle-driven.

The instructional concepts should be broad based and not focused on minute details or unlimited facts.
Teachers must focus on the concepts, principles and skills that students should learn. The content of
instruction should address the same concepts with all students but be adjusted by degree of complexity
for the diversity of learners in the classroom.

Process
Individualizing or differentiating the processes means varying learning activities or
strategies to provide appropriate methods for students to explore the concepts. It is important to give
students alternative paths to manipulate the ideas embedded within the concept. For example students
may use graphic organizers, maps, diagrams or charts to display their comprehension of concepts
covered. Varying the complexity of the graphic organizer can very effectively facilitate differing levels
of cognitive processing for students of differing ability.

Flexible grouping is consistently used.

Strategies for flexible grouping are essential. Learners are expected to interact and

work together as they develop knowledge of new content. Teachers may conduct whole-class
introductory discussions of content big ideas followed by small group or pair work. Student groups may
be coached from within or by the teacher to complete assigned tasks. Grouping of students is not fixed.
Based on the content, project, and on-going evaluations, grouping and regrouping must be a dynamic
process as one of the foundations of individualized instruction.

Classroom management benefits students and teachers.

Teachers must consider organization and instructional delivery strategies to effectively

operate a classroom using individualized instruction.

Products

Individualizing or differentiating the product means varying the complexity of the product that
students create to demonstrate mastery of the concepts. Students working below grade level may

have reduced performance expectations, while students above grade level may be asked to produce
work that requires more complex or more advanced thinking. There are many sources of alternative
product ideas available to teachers. However sometimes it is motivating for students to be offered

choice of product.
Initial and on-going assessment of student readiness and growth are essential.
Meaningful pre-assessment naturally leads to functional and successful differentiation or
individualization. Assessments may be formal or informal, including interviews, surveys,
performance assessments, and more formal evaluation procedures. Incorporating pre and on-going
assessment informs teachers to better provide a menu of approaches, choices, and scaffolds for the
varying needs, interests and abilities that exist in classrooms of diverse students.

Students are active and responsible explorers.

Teachers respect that each task put before the learner will be interesting, engaging, and
accessible to essential understanding and skills. Each child should feel challenged most of the time.
Vary expectations and requirements for student responses.
Items to which students respond may be differentiated or individualized for students to
demonstrate or express their knowledge and understanding. A well-designed student product allows
varied means of expression, alternative procedures, and provides varying degrees of difficulty, types of
evaluation, and scoring.

Advantages and disadvantages of Individualized instruction strategy.

Advantages:
1. Student-Centric

Differentiated instruction focuses on the academic needs and learning abilities of every individual
student. By changing the methods of teaching to suit students, teachers are able to adjust the content
of the syllabus. This encourages critical thinking in students, and gives them a chance to come
forward and demonstrate what they have learned. It also creates a sense of equality among students,
including the ones with a learning disability. Differentiated learning provides ample opportunity for
students to aim and attain academic success with aplomb.

2. Raises The Bar

Advocates of this teaching approach believe differentiated learning raises the standards of
learning in a big way. The true essence of this practice lies in the realization that learners and
their abilities, readiness and interests vary. Educators have the liberty to set up classrooms and
devise methods that would aid all students in thinking, analyzing and comprehending the
teaching contents easily. Differentiation does not have hard and fast rules; it is all about options.

3.
4.

Meeting the needs and interests of diverse learners.

Provides the opportunity for students to learn at their own pace, in their own way, and be successful.
5. Recognizes students varying background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in
learning, interests, and to react responsively.
6. Maximizes each students growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or
she is, and assisting in the learning process.
7. Helps in providing for the uniqueness of each child in terms of his/her particular learning style,
talents and potential, handicaps and deficiencies, etc.

Disadvantages:
1.

Time constraints and chopped-up schedules are an obstacle.

Teachers could work better if they had longer blocks of time with students. At the elementary level, kids
have to go somewhere or someone comes in to do something every 1530 minutes; at the secondary

2.

level, kids rotate in and out every 37 or 42 minutes. It makes teachers crazy.
Class size and teaching load are two of the biggest constraints.
A teacher who works with150 kids a day gets glassy-eyed when told he needs to get to know those kids
better. It's doable, but we would be far more efficient by arranging schedules so teachers had fewer

students to get to know or kept them over longer periods of time.

3. Teacher Preparedness.Sometimes, the teachers lack of adequate knowledge on individualizing
instruction could also serve as a serious obstacle in individualizing instruction in the classroom. The
teachers lack of knowledge and ignorance could be further aggravated when the school does not have
the essential resources to support individualized or differentiated instruction.

PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION

Programmed instruction is a method of presenting new

subject matters to students in a graded sequence of controlled steps. Students
work through the programmed material by themselves at their own speed and
after each step test their comprehension by answering an examination question or
filling in a diagram. They are then immediately shown the correct answer or given
additional information. Computers and other types of teaching machines are often
used to present the material, although books may also be used. Programmed
instruction consists of a network of statements and tests, which direct the student
to new statements depending on his pattern of errors. It is based on a particular
tool which is called teaching machine.
Programmed learning (or programmed
instruction) is a research-based system which helps learners work successfully. The
method is guided by research done by a variety of applied psychologists and
educators.]The learning material is in a kind of textbook or teaching machine or
computer. The medium presents the material in a logical and tested sequence. The
text is in small steps or larger chunks. After each step, learners are given a
question to test their comprehension. Then immediately the correct answer is
shown. This means the learner at all stages makes responses, and is given
immediate knowledge of results.
What is programmed learning?
If so much research had already been done on learning from films, what exactly did programmed
learning add? The short answer is "stimulus control", by which is broadly meant the teaching material
itself. Also, in programmed learning, a complete system was proposed which included these stages:
1. The aims of the course are stated in terms which are objective, and can be
measured.
2. A pre-test is given, or the initial behavior is stated.

3. A post-test is provided.
4. The materials have been tried out and revised according to results (developmental
testing).
5. The materials are constructed according to a predetermined scheme (stimulus
control).
6. The material is arranged in appropriate steps.
7. The learner has to respond actively (not necessarily overtly).
8. Arrangements are made for responses to be confirmed (knowledge of results).
9. The teaching medium is appropriate for the subject-matter and the students.
10.The materials are self-paced or presented in a manner which suits the learner.
The two main systems of programmed learning

Although there were three or four other systems proposed, we discuss here the two best-known methods.
One was by Norman Crowder, a psychologist with the U.S. Air Force. He had
been asked to investigate the training of aircraft maintenance men. Crowder's system was to set
multiple choice questions in the text, and provide feedback for each of the alternatives. Examples of
this method show that the alternatives offered in questions were chosen to cover mistakes which
students were likely to make. Crowder's system, which he called "intrinsic programming", was better
known as "branching programming" on account of its multiple-choice alternatives.
Much better known was the other style of programmed learning, as proposed
by the behaviorist B.F. Skinner. Skinner made some very effective criticisms of traditional teaching
methods. His scheme of programmed instruction was to present the material as part of a "schedule of
reinforcement" in typical behaviourist manner. The programmed text of Skinner's theory of behaviorism
is the most complete example of his ideas in action. Skinner's system was generally called "linear
programming" because its activities were placed in otherwise continuous text. Skinner was a wonderful
publicist for his own ideas, as can be seen from this passage:
"There is a simple job to be done. The task can be stated in concrete terms. The
necessary techniques are known. The equipment can easily be provided. Nothing
stands in the way except cultural inertia... We are on the threshold of an exciting
and revolutionary period in which the scientific study of man will be put to work in
man's best interests. Education must play its part. It must accept the fact that
sweeping revision of educational practice is possible and inevitable..."

Both methods were originally presented in machines, and both were later presented in book form. Both
systems were to an extent student centered. They were ways of teaching individual learners who worked
at their own pace. Both systems (in different ways) used knowledge of results to promote learning. In
both systems the content was pre-tested to identify problems and iron them out. Both systems
emphasized clear learning objectives. Progress in learning was measured by pre- and post-tests of
equivalent difficulty. Many practical tests showed the effectiveness of these methods.