The ground-breaking ideas of Vygotsky and Krashen - of proximal development and i+1 - make intuitive sense, but have always been a challenge to adequately implement in class. More recently, research has consistently shown the value of flexible and adaptive work and learning environments. But teachers know that it is difficult to create deep learning environments, and there is no room for adaptation in assessment.
Or is there?
In the days of flipped classrooms and student-driven learning, we need to change from traditional output-focused methods such as worksheets. Here, the opportunity window for teachers to adapt to individual learners is small, and after-the-fact corrections are ineffective.
Yet there is huge potential in this mode of work, which can be tapped with adaptive web forms that redirect learners upon provision of different answers. We have been experimenting with ways of enriching these traditional approaches with methods to help us identify and cater to proximal development moments as they occur for our learners.
The method we have settled on is Google Sites and Forms, varying with conditional answers. Questions can be multimedia and multimodal, and are extremely flexible. If the student gives the intended response, they move to the next question. If not, we have identified a developmental gap. The learner moves to a simplified question, which often includes a small revision of the key concepts (often a mini video lesson) before they attempt to answer again. All responses are captured for each learner in a spread sheet, and are available for fine-grained data analysis.
This method allows us to make homework and assessments teachable moments, while giving us a great deal of information. We have full access to truly formative data, allowing us to easily group, regroup and mix up our classes, which shows us which skills and knowledge items are present or absent in classes and individual students.
We use free software that does not have a high barrier to entry, allowing our teachers and learners to participate in the content creation. The learner as end user is often in their zone of proximal development, and the data that is available to the teacher is extensive and invaluable - and our school has come to depend heavily on it.
This method is readily implemented in any school and subject, and deepens the learning experience of all.
