Learning is the focus of education, but how we all learn can be very different, and that is not a bad thing. One of our favorite professional resources for this topic is Dr. Lance Ford, who has a lengthy history in education, specifically in finding technology solutions that are valuable to the classroom. In addition to being a teacher for about twenty-nine years, Dr. Ford also acts as a ZoomRoom Educator, in which he works with educators who are exploring the Zoom platform or need assistance in tying it into the classroom to help students learn.

More importantly, Dr. Ford is excited about the value of learning when it is done in a way that reaches students where they are and inspires them to grow.

The Value of Learning

The goal of learning is to learn something new and help other people with that knowledge to, in turn, enable them to achieve what they want to do. This is the foundational concept of education. However, there are some challenges that should be addressed to facilitate learning, specifically:

* Impacting learners

* Individualizing learning

* Using flipped classrooms

* Understanding that time is boundless for the knowledge transfer process

By exploring what each of these areas means and how they can impact the education process, it can be possible to empower both teachers and students to create an environment tailor-made for learning.

Impacting Learners

In standard classrooms, the following situation happens in some shape or format:

* A bell rings, signaling the start of class (or for college classes, there is a certain day and time of the week for class)

* Students come to sit in the class

* The teacher begins sharing knowledge with them

* The student takes notes on the knowledge

* The student is able to regurgitate that knowledge back to the teacher via an assessment process

* A student’s understanding of a subject or topic is strongly based on the results of that test or assessment

During the pandemic, learners were impacted differently. Limited remote teaching methods that are quickly employed during an emergency situation, such as moving to learning online, can make it hard to individualize the learning process. Students had multiple challenges to pandemic learning, including:

* Various learning styles

* Unique ways of engaging in content

* Access to technology

* Limited ability to see nonverbal signs if they did not have video capabilities

Yet, because of the experience educators and students had during pandemic-related remote learning, it has yielded more tools that can be used in combination with other methods to individualize learning so that every student can benefit, even when in the classroom. For example, video communications that took place during that time allowed teachers and students to make their lives more relatable to each other as they interacted, adding an important relationship component that enhanced the overall learning experience.

Ways to Individualize Learning for Students When They Are All Unique

Ford believes in starting with the desired outcome and the educator working their way back to the student’s individual level. When an educator programs a student’s interests (or lack thereof) to cross-pollinate with other students to share their perspectives on things, a genuine learning experience can occur. It allows students to relate to each other (even if they are in different places in their education) in a way that might not necessarily happen with their teacher.

As far as students being in different places, educators can enhance the educational experience by taking into account where learners are when they get to the classroom. If students are able to learn from each other through cross-pollination as well as learning from the educator, it provides additional avenues for students to learn from.