Traditionally, curriculum and course modules have consisted of a linear path that all students follow. This linear path to learning is especially true and prevalent in face-to-face lecture style classrooms, where all students are presented with the same content at the same time. Even online, many courses continue to follow a linear path where all students are presented with the exact same modules, activities, and tests.
Differentiated instruction is an alternative to the traditional model that takes into consideration student differences, and provides different paths to learning. According to Tomlinson & Moon (2013), there are four main areas that need to change in order to foster differentiated learning: content, process, product, and environment.
ISTE standard for educator 5, recognizing that students have different skills, knowledge, and learning needs, states that educators need to “design authentic, learner-driver activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability.” Specifically, 5a explains that educators should “use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner difference and needs.” The Learning Management System, CANVAS includes MasteryPaths, a feature that allows for differentiation, personalization, and choice. MasteryPaths also allow teachers to offer different content, process, and products.
How can MasteryPaths from CANVAS be used to provide learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability?
How can the data provided by MasteryPaths be used to guide instruction and support students in achieving their learning goals?
MasteryPaths for differentiation
Canvas Guides explains that MasteryPaths allows educators “to customize learning experiences for students based on performance. MasteryPaths is based on differentiated assignments, which allows targeted learning activities to be assigned to different users and sections.” Teachers use the data from the pre-assessment to differentiate instruction by creating paths that will provide and facilitate specific instruction to learners based on their learning needs, skills and knowledge.
The image below exemplifies one possible way of using MasteryPaths in Canvas. Students are informally assessed prior to starting the course modules. Based on the results from the pre-assessment, students are given activities that have been pre-selected and tailored to their skills and knowledge of the subject matter.
The image below shows an example of how a teacher can set up MasteryPath assignments. In this example, there are three paths. Students who score between 20 and 25 points are assigned the path displayed at the top. Students with a score of 13 to 19 points have the middle path. Students who score between 0 and 12 points are presented with the path displayed at the bottom. This is just one example, and teachers have the ability to select the activities they consider most appropriate as well as how they are categorized by points.
The pre-assessment can be integrated as part of a canvas quiz/test, and automatically graded, or it can consist of a different assignment that the teacher evaluates.
Differentiation ≠ Personalization
In the Teaching and Learning Approaches Chart, Barbara Bray explains the main differences between differentiation and personalization. In differentiated instruction, the teacher designs, assigns, adjusts curriculum, and monitors progress. Personalized instruction allows students’ choice, control and self-direction of their learning, with the teacher’s coaching and support. Personalization is more consistent with a learner-driven environment, 21st century skills, and with ISTE standard 5a for educators, which states that the use of technology should “foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
MasteryPaths for personalization
Teachers can personalize the course by letting students choose their own path. The process is very similar. Students take the pre-test and will be automatically presented with the path that the teacher has selected according to the pre-assessment score. However, each path will include the option to skip activities, and/or select activities from different paths.
- Students can determine if their score, from the pre-assessment, is consistent to how they feel their comprehension and mastery of the topic is.
- Mastery paths provide feedback to students regarding their pre-assessment, without penalizing them with a bad grade.
- Students can choose to follow the recommended activities, review or revisit activities, work on the target activities, or move to extension activities.
- Teachers can use data from canvas analytics to learn students’ choices and progress, in order to improve the pre-assessments and activities within the paths.
MasteryPaths to foster engagement through learner-driven activities
Professor Joseph Halbert pointed out how MasteryPaths can be used beyond targeting learning standards as they can “be utilized for fun” and provide multiple branches based on student interest. To foster engagement, I can envision student-interest based MasteryPaths, and gamification of MasteryPaths.
To create an interest-based learning experience, teachers can create a pre-test that asks students questions related to their interests. The path is determined, not based on what they know, but rather on what they are interested in learning.
To create a gamified MasteryPath, the pre-assessment can include questions regarding the kind of game they would like to experience. The games can be educational and include the target content, but the learning would happen through a different process depending on the game chosen.
Drawbacks to using MasteryPaths
While there are many benefits to using MasteryPaths, the main concerns are: they are time consuming to create, grading different activities can be perceived as unfair, and the potential for students to be stigmatized. Here are some suggestions of possible solutions to some of the potential drawbacks of using MasteryPaths.
It takes triple the time (or more) to set three different paths.
- The benefit should outweigh the time investment.
- If teachers collaborate in the creation of the paths, the load is lessened.
- Once created, mastery paths can be reused.
Grading different activities can be perceived as unfair
- The activities and assignments within mastery Paths, should be formative and do not have to be graded. They are there to provide feedback and guide learning.
Different paths can result in stigma
In the article Stigma, Clair Matthew from Harvard University explains: “Drawing on Goffman but incorporating a broader concern for the operation of power in society, Link and Phelan define stigma as the co-occurrence of four processes: (1) labeling human differences; (2) stereotyping such differences; (3) separating those labeled from “us”; and (4) status loss and discrimination against …”
- Teachers should explain that having different paths does not equate to students being better or worse. It means they are at a different place within the learning continuum.
- Teachers can learn about, and highlight each student’s expertise.
- Teachers can explain that the pre-assessment can be subjected to how students were feeling the day/time they took the assessment, or how some students may be in the border between two paths.
Resources
There are many resources freely available for educators to understand, setup, and implement MasteryPaths into their Canvas courses. Here are three to get you started.
Getting Started with Mastery Paths
- explains how to build MasteryPaths into your CANVAS course
- defines what MasteryPaths are and how they are used
- highlights some of the features of MasteryPaths
- explains how MasteryPaths can be used to give differentiated assignments
- how to target specific students who need remedial or specific work
- limitations of MasteryPaths
- includes (through hyperlinks) additional information regarding MasteryPaths
The video Using Canvas Mastery Paths for Differentiation includes visual examples to explain:
- How to plan paths
- How to set up two or three paths
- What paths look like from instructor and student views
The Canvas Instructor Guide includes help guides to answer the following questions:
- How do I use MasteryPaths in course modules?
- How do I allow a page to be a MasteryPath module item?
- How do I add conditional content to a MasteryPath source item?
- How do I assign a conditional assignment for students to complete in MasteryPaths?
- How do I view the MasteryPaths range breakdown results for an assignment?
Conclusion
Whether the class is conducted in person or online, MasteryPaths can help educators transform their linear courses into learning environments that foster differentiation, personalization, and choice. Teachers can provide environments that accommodate learner variability through MasteryPaths. MasteryPaths can also be used to foster learner-driven activities. A key recommendation is that the pre-assessment should not be the only element guiding learning, it should also provide feedback, be a springboard for reflection, and be used to ofer recommendations. Students, with guidance from the teacher, should choose the path, reflect on their learning experience, and evaluate their learning.
References
Bray, B. (2018). Teaching and Learning Approaches Chart (v1). Rethinking Learning. https://barbarabray.net/2018/05/22/teaching-and-learning-approaches-chart-v1/
Canvas Community (2020). How do I use MasteryPaths in course modules? Instructor-Guide. Retrieved from https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-use-MasteryPaths-in-course-modules/ta-p/906
Carter, N. (2014, August 4).Genius Hour and the 6 Essentials of Personalized Education. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/genius-hour-essentials-personalized-education-nichole-carter
Implementing Universal Design for Learning on Canvas. (2017). The Basic Theory of Mastery Paths. https://learn.canvas.net/courses/1763/pages/1-the-basic-theory-of-masterypaths
Instructure (2020). How do I use MasteryPaths in course modules? Instructor Guide. Retrieved from https://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/668299-how-do-i-use-masterypaths-in-course-modules
ISTE Standards for Educators. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators
Lolley, S. (Sep 8, 2020). Using Canvas Mastery Paths for Differentiation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVQiWZadifY
