EDU585-Helping Students Become Independent Learners

Helping Students Become Independent Learners

I’m always looking into ways of helping my students become more independent and help them take ownership of their education. Currently, my students struggle a lot with that. A lot of them couldn't get the education they deserve in their own countries. Therefore, they lack confidence and they want words of affirmation from me every day. It breaks my heart seeing that. Thus, I decided to take advantage of having technology available in my classrooms and help them take over their learning little by little.

Therefore, I’ve created a digital classroom through Google Classroom and I added documents, videos and other things my students may need to be successful in my classes. I try my best to use something called Hyperdocs. It’s amazing how students can click on those letters marked in “blue” and access all kinds of information I want them to access. It gives them a sense of security and ownership of their own learning. It, also, gives me a peace of mind as well.

For instance, I have created a hyperdoc through Google Docs that will help my students figure out “What is Persuasive Writing?” on their own. I will be there helping them and correct them along the way. However, I will make sure they know they are in control and help them boost their creativity by guiding them. In this case, I didn’t create a choice board but more of a table with hyperdocs that they can use to find answers and examples. I included websites that I want them to look at to find the answers since they would be lost otherwise. I think this hyperdoc is perfect to help my students feel more empowered and not overwhelmed by too much of it since they still need my guidance. I will be trying this hyperdoc this coming week or the next so I will have to report back on how it went afterwards.

Here is a little snapshot of the document I’ve created:

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