Self-Pacing
The Modern Classrooms instructional model was born from a reality any teacher understands: due to a variety of factors, students learn at different speeds. Wanting to inquire further, we asked the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University “What does academic research say about self-pacing?”
What do we mean when we say “self-pacing” in education?
Self-paced approaches to learning are those where students are provided learning tasks that they complete at a speed that is customized to their personal levels of mastery. In these learning environments, students can progress through the material based on their learning needs. They can take longer with material they might struggle with, skip topics that cover material they already know, or repeat topics as needed (Bray & McClaskey, 2010).
Does self-pacing truly help kids learn?
Research has long demonstrated that students learn at different paces, and, for any age group, the variations in rates of learning are considerable (Davies, 1973; Eurich, 1962). In recent years, research on the neurology of learning has reinforced these findings (Hall, Meyer, & Rose, 2012). Given these conclusions, it is perhaps not surprising that student-centered instructional approaches -- those that value and attend to students’ individual learning needs – have been shown to have numerous benefits over more traditional forms of teaching (National Research Council, 2000). Perhaps most importantly, self-paced learning environments provide students with a direct outlet to practice and develop skills in self-regulating their own learning. Strong self-regulated learning skills in the form of skills with planning, managing, and controlling the learning process, have been correlated with faster learning and higher achievement (Kizilcec, Perez-Sanagusten, & Maldonado, 2017).
What do students think of self-pacing?
Research has found that self-paced learning environments are perceived by students as useful (Svenningsen, Bottomley, & Pear, 2018) and motivating (Lambert, Gong, & Harrison, 2016). They can also increase students’ interest in a subject (Balentyne & Varga, 2016) and can increase the value they see in the content they are studying (Balentyne & Varga, 2016).
Since students learn at different speeds, Modern Classroom educators create instructional videos for their students to access after they have proven mastery of prerequisite skills or material within the unit. By valuing mastery over speed, creating differentiated instruction, and implementing best practices for self-paced learning, our teachers enhance students’ confidence and learning outcomes. The Modern Classrooms Project equips and empowers educators to create self-paced classrooms in which all students truly learn.
References
Balentyne, P. & Varga, M.A. (2016). The effects of self-paced blended learning of mathematics. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 35(3), 201-223
Bray, B., & McClaskey, K. (2010). Personalization vs. differentiation vs. individualization. Mid-Pacific Institute, 1(1).
Davies, I.K. (1973). Competency based learning: Technology, management, and design. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Eurich, A.C. (1962). Technology in education. New Society, 11, 15-16.
Hall, T.E., Meyer, A., & Rose, D.H. (2012). An introduction to Universal Design for Learning: Questions and answers. In T.E. Hall, A. Meyer, & D.H. Rose (Eds.) Universal Design for Learning in the classroom: Practical applications, (pp. 1-8). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Kizilcec, R. F., Pérez-Sanagustín, M., & Maldonado, J. J. (2017). Self-regulated learning strategies predict learner behavior and goal attainment in Massive Open Online Courses. Computers & Education, 104, 18-33.
Lambert, J., Gong, Y., & Harrison, R. (2016). Autonomous, self-paced, quest-based learning: Is it more motivating than traditional course instruction? In G. Chamblee, & L. Langub (Eds.) Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, (pp. 2144-2149). Savannah, GA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
National Research Council. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school (Expanded ed.). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Svenningsen, L., Bottomley, S., & Pear, J. J. (2018). Personalized learning and online instruction. In R. Zheng (Ed.) Digital technologies and instructional design for personalized learning, (pp. 164-190). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.