Individualized Instruction

BY

DR. MARIA SIMPLICIA E. FLORES

Objectives
 At the end of the lesson, the student shall be able to:
1. Discuss the nature of individualized instruction.
2. Distinguish alternative teaching-learning strategies
depending on the technology available, preferences
of teachers, and styles of learners.
3. Explain the strengths and limitations of each
alternative teaching-learning strategy.
4. Discuss the appropriate teaching-learning strategy
to use in a given instructional scenario.
A. Rationale of Individualized Instruction

 Every human being is unique. Hence, teachers should

NOT expect all students to learn at the same time,
pace, and manner.
 Individualizing instruction is equally useful and
necessary to address individual needs of learners.
 Individualized Instruction (II) – provides
learners opportunities to harness their critical
thinking, creativity, and self-direction as
learners.
 II and its variations provide learners the chance to
question, dissent, explain their positions, and
criticize works of others using a given set of
standards.

 Only in II can learners be given this chance to

assume responsibility for their learning and develop
their critical thinking.
 II also provides individual learners the chance to
explore and attend to their own needs, thus, enabling
them to further develop their individuality,
understand their capabilities and limitations clearly,
and nurture their creativity.

 END RESULT: Learners are able to address their

own learning needs, fill in gaps as necessary, and
become autonomous, independent learners.
B. Nature of Individualized Instruction

 Instructional Comp0nents
1. Description of a given instructional scenario
(setting and class size)
2. Enumeration of the objectives learners are
expected to achieve
3. Subject matter to cover
4. Teaching-learning experiences that teachers and
learners will go through
5. Assessment plan to see if achievement has taken
place
 Faculty members are expected to assume the role of
instructional designers, classroom managers,
and assessors of student achievement.

 As instructional designers, you will decide what

competencies learners should develop over time,
what subject mater they need to learn, how they
will learn them, and what skills students should be
able to demonstrate later as evidence of
achievement.
 In certain II activities, complete student autonomy
can be given from the formulation of learning
objectives to the assessment of achievement. In some
instances, the teachers and learners agree to meet
halfway.
 On the other extreme, the teachers may assume all
the roles related to designing and assessing and
just leave the student to take care of the delivery
function. This means the teachers develop a
complete program of instruction, from objectives to
assessment, and all the students need to know is to
interact with the material for the purpose.
 C. Different Strategies of
Individualizing Instruction

1. Self-directed discovery learning – is the II

strategy that allows complete student
autonomy, from the formulation of learning
objectives to the assessment of achievement. This is
the extreme case where students are totally
independent and teachers only do ministerial
duties.
 Such strategy is most appropriate that allow self-
study electives, special problems, and work-
study programs.
 All the school needs to do is offer the said course and
assign a faculty member to handle it in terms of
meeting the students once and then releasing their
final grades at the end of the school term or semester.
 The students were completely autonomous in deciding
what they wanted to learn, how they had to learn it,
what resources were needed to reach their targets,
what they needed to show as evidence of achievement,
and even the timetable to complete the learning tasks.
2. Independent study – reflects less student
dependence on both course structure and teacher.
 In this variation, the learner formulates the objectives
and assessment of achievement in concurrence with
the teacher.
 The student alone decides on how he/she will go over
a particular learning experience in achieving the
learning goals set.
3. Learning contract – is a prescription (topic or
course of study unit) written for, by, or with the
student.
 It provides many opportunities for the students to
learn independently and includes a variety of learning
resources through which they may gather the required
information and develop the learning objectives set.
 Learners develop interest and pride in their
accomplishments and their frustrations and anxieties
are eliminated.
Contents of Contract
4. Modular instruction – makes use of a self-
contained unit of instruction that guides the
individual student’s learning activities in a certain
topic or unit.

Contents of Modular Instruction

 Modules - parts of the official list of competencies
that a certain course or educational program covers,
hence, the students are NOT given autonomy in the
formulation of objectives. However, learners are at
liberty with respect to how they would attain the
objectives and what evidence of achievement they
could present to the teachers.
5. Audio/Video-tutorial instruction – involves
the use of learning carrels or booths and an
audiotape or videotape that leads students through
the learning activities.
 This is an improvement of modular instruction
that is typically limited to the use of printed materials.
 In learning skills, it is advantageous because it
shows an actual or simulated representation of
the skills being learned.
6. Programmed instruction – consists of a series
of “frames” which represent a small area of the
subject matter with test questions after each
frame.
 Also known as programmed learning,
automated instruction, self-instructional
technology, and teaching machine.
 Programmed instruction can facilitate increasing
knowledge about any profession at an accelerated
rate, where learners complain of cognitive overload
and fatigue.
Basic Principles in Programmed Instruction
 Modern computer software can break the frames for
the students and still present the materials with the
most attractive, accurate, and clear static images,
videos, text, sounds, input, and feedback.
D. Managing Individualized Instruction

Characteristics of Teachers’ Instructional Roles in II

 MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS:
1. Readiness of both learners and teachers (including
school administration)
2. Learners have to meet certain pre-requisite
standards before doing the learner–controlled
instruction (LCI): their levels of maturity, the
element of time to attend the program of
instruction, and competence in using and accessing
the learning resources (computer skills)
3. Teachers and school administrators have to meet
also the basic requirements, such as having
competent instructional designers to draft the II
packages, and provision for adequate instructional
resources and conducive learning environments.
 For real II and LCI to take place, school should
also give the learners control over their movements
within the learning environment, including the
decision to stay or leave the program (Wydra,
1980).