Using Technology to Meet
the Needs of a Multi-level
Classroom
Todd W. Jorns
Senior Director for Educational Technology
Illinois Community College Board
Multi-level Classroom
Deliberately-formed multilevel classes are
created based on these assumptions:
 that all human beings have strengths as well
as challenges;
 that all have something to contribute to enrich
the group’s learning;
 that communities are actually strengthened by
the diversity of their members.
Multi-level Classroom
 Working collaboratively across their differences in
class helps students to work more effectively with
all kinds of people in their day-to-day lives and is
an important work skill.
 People become increasingly literate and
knowledgeable about the world by actively
engaging with others, talking, discussing, and
sharing their own experiences and perspectives.
Multi-level Classroom
 Creates a climate where students learn with and
from each other.
 Breaks down the isolation that many feel upon
entering a program/classroom.
 Helps participants identify and act on issues that
are central to their lives.
Multi-level Classroom
 Learners may work in small groups or pairs.
 At the same skill level or at different levels with the
more advanced students taking on a teaching role
which helps with learning retention.
 Grounds their own learning and develops their
leadership skills.
 Ensure the process of building community and
building basic skills are not in opposition to one
another, but complement and enhance each other.
Effective Strategies
 Encourage students to take responsibility for their
own learning.
 Teacher becomes the guide on the side.
 Assist students in becoming assertive consumers
of their own education.
 Provides transferable skills for students to become
more active in getting what they need out of a
class and life as well.
Effective Strategies
 The simple use of newsprint may be one of the
more effective strategies for working with
multilevel groups.
 A multilevel group establishes a pattern of talking,
posting ideas on newsprint, reflecting on these
ideas, and then adding to them.
 This collective pad of paper seems to help
students improve their literacy skills (wiki).
Effective Strategies
 Long- term projects allow students to assume
responsibility for leadership roles and other tasks.
 Students can participate in a variety of ways and
all contribute to a unified effort with an actual end
result (team work).
 Technologies: Newsletters, video projects, or
publications of student writings (wikis or blogs).
Effective Strategies
 Choose movies, TV shows, commercials.
 Select materials with a strong narrative, vivid
characters, humorous, slapstick and that connect
to students own background.
 Develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing
activities around the video segment.
 Technologies: DVDs, Podcasts & Vodcasts.
Effective Strategies
 Access to Internet-based resources allow students
to find answers to their questions.
 Expands learning beyond the boundary of the
classroom.
 Students use reading, writing, and math skills in
real-world settings.
 Make meaning out of large amounts of information.
Technologies: Electronic field trips & guest lecturers.
Effective Strategies
 Any skill is learned best when imbedded in
content (of interest to the learner and has
meaning in the context of that learner’s life).
 Learning occurs when it is active, not passive
(activities that encourage action, challenges, and
interaction with others).
 Technology broadens the opportunity for teaching
in context and for learning in an active way.
Technologies
 Paper & Pencil/Pen
 Books
 Calculators
 Computers
 Educational Software
 Word Processing
 Spreadsheets
Technologies
 Internet (search es, info gathering, etc.)
 Email
 Electronic field trips/Digital guest lectures
 Webinars
 Web 2.0 Tools (wikis, blogs, podcasts, etc.)
 Videoconferencing (Telepresence)
Internet
 Information gathering
 Fact checking
 Communicating (email, IM, etc.)
 Socializing & dating
 Entertainment & games
 Online banking, shopping & greetings
 And more…
Wikis
 A wiki is computer software that allows users to
easily create, edit and link web pages.
 Ideal tool for collaborative work done by both
students and teachers.
 Students collaboratively work on the content of
a wiki using only a web browser.
 Students can use wikis to collaborate on group
reports, compiling data or sharing the results of
their project or research.
Blogs
 Blog is short for Web log.
 A frequent, chronological publication of personal
thoughts and Web links.
 A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a
person's life and what is happening on the Web, a
kind of hybrid diary/guide site.
 There are as many unique types of blogs as there
are people.
Podcast
 (iPOD broadCAST) is an audio broadcast that has
been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file
format for playback in a digital music player or
computer.
 The "pod" in podcast was coined from "iPod," the
predominant portable, digital music player, and
although podcasts are mostly verbal, they may
contain music.
 Video Podcasts - vodcasts
Social Networking Sites
 A Web site that provides a virtual community for
people interested in a particular subject or just to
"hang out" together.
 Members communicate by voice, chat, instant
message, videoconference and blogs
 The "social networking site" is the 21st century
term for "virtual community.”
 FaceBook, MySpace, Second Life, etc.
Benefits of Technology
 Increases flexibility for multi-level classroom
 Provides access to expertise
 Facilitates discussion among learners
 Reduces feeling of isolation
 Increases learner autonomy
 Supports collaborative learning
Benefits of Technology
 Increases technological literacy
 Practice important skills
 Learn wonderful things
 Engage students
 Complement & extend instruction
 Should be fun!
Think Different!
Multi-level
Multi-learning
Classroom!
Questions
Todd W. Jorns
(217) 785-0144
Todd.Jorns@illinois.gov
www.flip4u.org