**5.4 Differentiation**

*Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World*

between the increase in technology PGD [11].

**5. Online and hybrid learning**

and classmates.

**5.2 Instructors**

**5.3 Classmates**

(Loom) and feedback on student work.

**5.1 Content**

classroom lessons [11]. Over the 3 years of the study, "The Infusion of Technology's Influences on Teacher's Use of Technology in the Classroom" it was clearly demonstrated that the increase in technology PGD caused a significant increase in technology infused lessons. During the first year of the study .9 percent of the lessons conducted infused technology by the conclusion of the study 5.4 percent of the lessons conducted infused technology. This showed a direct relationship

The value of technology Professional Growth and Development and Professional

Online and hybrid learning is an upcoming trend in education. While it has been a mode of instruction delivery at the university level for many years it is still new to the k-12 education world. The new learning and instructional delivery models have caused the need to define how teachers do things in a new way. A focus on the Community of Inquiry Framework (COI) by Michael Moore provides excellent guidelines to the best practices in the areas of online and hybrid learning. This model considers instruction delivery as an interaction between content, instructors

Interaction with content refers to intellectual engagement with course concepts that results in changes in the student's understanding, skills, or perspective. Examples of interaction with content in online courses include: watching video lectures, solving problem sets, taking notes on textbook readings, participating in a game based on course content, or completing chapter quizzes. Interaction with content is the only sort of interaction in self-regulated and on-demand courses, but

The second type of interaction identified by Michael Moore was interaction with instructors; i.e. the interaction between a student and a more expert teacher who stimulates and maintains the student's interest, motivates the student to learn, provides direct instruction, organizes the student's application of concepts and/ or practice of skills, supports and encourages the student, and assesses his or her learning. Most online courses include this type of interaction. Examples include: teacher facilitation of an online discussion forum, virtual classes, ongoing journaling with students, teacher created study-guides, reflection, faculty recorded videos

Interaction with peers refers to student-to-student interactions among two or more members of an online class. Moore remarked that interaction with peers was something new in distance education made possible by online learning. He also

most online courses include at least one more type of interaction.

Learning Communities remains an important aspect of supporting todays inservice and pre-service teachers. To ensure this school leadership should ensure that opportunities for this type of PGD is made available to faculty and staff. Additionally in-service teachers should prioritize these training to support their instruction to ensure they are introduced to current and trending technology tools.

**94**

Differentiation strategies center around a focus on personalizing learning in order to allow everyone an optimal learning experience. Educational programs should teach pre-service educators relevant instructional approaches, and academic-support strategies that are intended to address the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds of individual students. Districts should provide similar professional development opportunities. Personalized learning is intended to facilitate the academic success of each student by first determining the learning needs, interests, and aspirations of individual students, and then providing learning experiences that are customized—to a greater or lesser extent—for each student.

#### **5.5 Equity, diversity and inclusion**

Culturally relevant teaching is a pedagogy that crosses disciplines and cultures to engage learners while respecting their cultural integrity. It should accommodate the dynamic mix of race, ethnicity, class, gender, region, religion, and family that contributes to every student's cultural identity [12].

Educational technology should incorporate a strong focus on equity as the integration of technology very quickly made equity issues centered on financial differences evident. The digital divide remains an ongoing struggle to ensure the appropriate integration of technology into instruction as well as the availability of appropriate training for in-service and pre-service teachers. Tools selection should include thinking about possible accessibility issues resulting from availability and access to devices and Internet.

#### **5.6 Software & tool review**

These areas should be a focus of software review. Software selection can have a significant impact on a student experience. Consider the following definitions when reviewing software [13]:


It is important to consider these definitions and create appropriate questions as part of the evaluation process to ask when reviewing software and classroom

tools. Providing appropriate training in evaluation of software should be included for pre-service and in-service teachers. Questions that should be asked include:


These questions should be considered suggestions for a thoughtful conversation and not be considered limiting or exclusionary to any community.
