Differentiating instruction is vital to ensuring educators are meeting the diverse needs of individual learners. Adjusting lessons and adapting them to specific learning needs can be accomplished more easily with the use of technology programs. I will highlight a few of the valuable technology apps that I’ve found particularly useful here for you today. The app, Prodigy Math, is fantastic at engaging students on a game-based platform, while Epic is super useful for differentiating reading resources (Cypher, 2020). The app, Newsela, levels current event articles for readers to be able to engage in social studies content more readily. Kahoot is another highly engaging tool that transforms any content into a fun, interactive trivia competition to either review or assess knowledge acquisition. Lastly, I’ll cover a self-paced app called SplashLearn which creates individualized learning paths for both math and reading practice. 

There are a few key things that should be considered when searching for the right technology to help differentiate instruction such as how the standards correlate with your lesson objectives, if formative assessments are embedded in the technology, and if there are options to change the skill level with similar content (Stern, 2015). There are countless technology tools that can help educators differentiate. However, none of them will be effective if the teacher experiences added stress or challenges incorporating them. Teachers must first empower themselves by integrating technology at a comfortable pace that will enhance the student experience without undue stress (Cypher, 2020).

I’ll rate each of these digital tools in a handy chart to easily compare and highlight their benefits.

1 –Not at all.      2- Somewhat       3- Mostly.        4 -Yes very!

            Next, let’s look at how each of these tech tools differentiates for specific student needs. SplashLearn is definitely my favorite of these apps when it comes to the amount of differentiation. It begins with a pre-test to gauge initial readiness for grade level content, and then sets students on a learning path according to what they need. It is highly engaging and peaks student’s interest with the fun animated characters and games. SplashLearn also caters to multiple types of learners by using visual engagement, audio support by reading questions and text to students, and it assists tactile learners by utilizing touch screen interactivity. Students are working at their own pace, their own level, and celebrating their own achievements with the same amount of excitement and praise. This is truly an all-inclusive app in regard to differentiating, enrichment, and motivation.

            Newsela is an app that is comprehensive, relevant, differentiated, and skill-building (Newsela, 2020). Newsela meets students where they are at and can enhance any content area. You can search articles for specific subjects and then adjust reading lexile levels to accommodate both interest and ability. This creates higher engagement when students are interested and supported. The scaffolds that are built into Newsela provide individualized support to take students to a new level of learning and overcome challenges. This tech tool gives rich data about student learning in order to inform and support teachers in their differentiating plans.

            Epic is particularly useful for providing a wealth of options when it comes to reading material. Many students find reading books online, a more engaging method and can search easily for what topic they’d like to read about. Epic also provides built in quizzes to assess readiness, comprehension and engagement. Epic scaffolds for reading levels by allowing you to assign books at specific lexile levels, or limit books that are too difficult. The “Read-to-me” tool is particularly helpful to ensure differentiation of reading ability.

            Prodigy is fantastic at challenging gifted learners by offering them more than what the grade-level content will provide. It challenges students to compete, press-on, and strive to challenge themselves. Gifted students come in all cultural, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds (Hegwood, 2023). Prodigy brings different cultural experiences into their interactive games and allows students to advance and compete on their own path. It encourages students to take charge of their learning, provides resources to get help when they need more info, and differentiates for the higher-level learners who can typically fall through the cracks when teachers are focusing on students who have below-grade-level needs.

            Two of these digital tools that are particularly good at promoting ownership of learning are SplashLearn and Kahoot. These are, by far, the most frequent programs requested by my students. Not only that, they give me the best data as a teacher! SplashLearn has that adaptive learning path that allows students to work at their own pace, but it also allows me as a teacher to assign particular topics or skills that need extra work. Students love accruing coins for passing levels with certain accuracy. This encourages them to want to continue on their path to compete for more coins and levels of learning. This built in motivation is a life-saver that takes the strain off of teacher prep. Kahoot is great for those who love a good competition! Students love playing games and Kahoot brings learning and assessing to life with a fun, competitive platform that highlights student successes, improvements, and efforts. Kahoot is also very versatile since it can be used across any subject and can be used as a review, formative, or summative assessment with data trackers to organize how individual students are doing.

I hope you found this resource useful, listing current technologies that can be used to appropriately support differentiated instruction and enrich student learning styles!

References: 

Cypher. (2020). Top edtech tools for digital differentiation. Cypher Learning. https://www.cypherlearning.com/blog/k-20/top-edtech-tools-for-digital-differentiation

Hegwood, V. (2023). 7 Ways to differentiate lessons for gifted students. Prodigy Resources. https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/differentiated-instruction-for-gifted-students/

Newsela. (2024). Instructional resources that connect and deliver. Newsela Inc. https://newsela.com/

Stern, J. (2015). Enhancing learning through differentiated technology. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/enhanced-learning-through-differentiated-technology-julie-stern