SOFTWARE FOR DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION...ARE THERE ANY?? OF COURSE!!

Before I begin on the software for differentiated instruction, I should define what “differentiated instruction” actually means in the world of education today. Differentiated Instruction is defined as when an educator observes and understands both the similarities and differences of his/her students. Thinking about how much time and effort I put into creating my weekly lesson plans, I wonder about the teachers I had in my grade school. Granted, my grade school days are long of the past, but I wonder what the teachers did when my fellow classmates were struggling with subjects? I am certain that “differentiated instruction” was not happening. I remember being one of thirty students sitting in a classroom, completing the same classwork and learning from the one teaching style from the teacher. I was one of those struggling students in Math class and, if I did not understand how my teacher taught the lesson that day, I was out of luck! Please understand that I do not mean to be putting those educators down. They all worked hard but meeting the academic needs of all of the students in my classroom did not happen then. Certainly not like in today’s classroom setting! Differentiated Instruction is more prevalent today and teachers are using their observations and findings to plan lessons that can accomodate every type of learner.

EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENTIATED SOFTWARE --- 30 Sites/Apps for Differentiated Instruction

“1 Actively Learn - Educators can make any reading material their own by adding questions and annotation, plus collaborate with others, which helps to differentiate instruction.

2 Answer Pad - A student response system and assessment tool that can be used to make a classroom paperless. The "Go Interactive" feature allows real-time collaboration, which helps educators better gauge student understanding.

3 Arcademics - Focuses on game-based learning (K-8) across a wide range of subjects. An educational portal allows teachers to track and monitor students, generate detailed reports, and assess student learning.

4 Badaboom - An easy-to-use classroom response system through which users can create learning quizzes and games to assess and differentiate instruction.

5 BoomWriter - A unique site that lets students express their creativity by adding their own chapters to an initial story prompt. Classmates can anonymously vote on which ones should be included in the final story. Boomwriter then publishes these stories as softcover books, and can personalize each one to include the student's name on the cover and their final chapter as an alternate ending. Other tools support nonfiction and vocabulary-based writing activities.

6 Buncee - A blended interactive learning tool for creating presentations or digital stories that can be embedded into a site/blog. Teachers can also flip a classroom by assigning quizzes, plus track and monitor students.

7 Chronicle Cloud - A cutting edge all-in-one iOS app for teachers for taking notes, assessing students, providing feedback, and more.

8 ClassroomQ - An easy-to-use innovative tool that acts as a digital hand-raising device, which assists in assessing a student's learning in real-time.

9 edcite - Create digital assignments, quizzes, and more, and then have student responses automatically graded in real-time. Detailed student assessment reports can be generated as well.

10 Education Galaxy - A new site for grades K-6 that uses game-based learning to help students in a wide variety of subjects. The site also supports assessing student needs and integrating self-paced learning.

11 Edji - A new interactive learning tool that engages students through collaborative highlighting, annotation, comments, and even emojis. The detailed heat map helps educators to gauge student understanding.

12 EDpuzzle - A popular site/app for flipping a classroom or lesson by adding questions to a video and then assessing student's answers.

13 Eduflow - A new learning management system in which educators can create courses, track students, and generate detailed reports.

14 Edulastic - An innovative online assessment platform that makes it easy for teachers to differentiate instruction.

15 Floop - An learning web app for teachers to give and collect student feedback through conversation threads

16 FUNecole - An online learning platform for grades 1-6 that allows educators create assignments and lessons, and also integrate computer science into their curriculum.

17 Gimkit - A game-based learning solution in which students can create games and educators can then assess the results.

18 Hippo Video - A web tool for students and educators to create videos and screencasts that can be used to explore a subject, which helps to gauge student understanding and comprehension.

19 I Know It - An easy-to-use site that supports interactive math practice for grades K-5. Educators can assign lessons, engage students, and assess progress.

20 IXL - A popular site for math that allows for student tracking with detailed reporting. Educators can monitor areas in which students struggle, and then adjust instruction accordingly.

21 Kahoot - Still one one of the most popular classroom tools to gamify and differentiate instruction.

22 Kami - A handy learning tool that serves as a digital pen/paper that allows users to annotate PDFs and other documents.

23 Kialo Edu - An argument mapping and debate site that can be used to follow the logic of a student’s thinking and help build critical thinking.

24 Loop - A cool new student response system in which students can respond to questions by using an emoji or word, or by choosing an answer.

25 Night Zookeeper - A interesting new site that builds writing skills through interactive lessons and competitions. The education portal provides an opportunity for educators to track their students and build a library of lessons.

26 Otus - A one-to-one learning management solution and mobile learning environment through which educators can differentiate instruction based on detailed real-time analytics.

27 Parlay - Teachers can use this online tool to build classroom discussion--browse through a robust library of discussion prompts (with resources), facilitate online round tables, or create a live verbal round table.

28 Pear Deck - A platform that empowers educators to create quizzes, slides, or presentations, once the decks are created, students can respond via their mobile devices. Teachers can then assess student understanding in real-time.

29 Socrates - A new game-based learning system dedicated to differentiated learning that automatically adjusts content to student needs.

30 ThinkFluency - ThinkFluency is an innovative iOS app that helps to assess reading fluency and differentiate instruction in real-time.” (David Kapuler, 2/12/20, “30 Sites for Differentiated Instruction.” Tech and Learning)

If you get a chance, check out some of the above sites for differentiated instruction. I am happy to say that my current school does use some of these in classes but I am looking forward to checking out some of the other sites that are new to me!

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Robb, Laura. “What is Differentiated Instruction”. Differentiating Reading Instruction. Scholastic

Kapuler, David. (February 12, 2020). “30 Sites for Differentiated Instruction”. Tech and Learning.