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As educators, we know our students have different needs. Some fly through our content, while others need more time for ideas to sink in. Some have help at home, while others miss class. Unfortunately, in traditional school settings, the demands of pacing guides and age-based promotion make meeting these needs difficult.

Since the days of the one-room schoolhouse, educators have dreamed of a better system, one where all students have the time they need to achieve true understanding; in other words, a self-paced learning environment. We see examples of self-paced learning in Montessori schools, alternative schools, and cyber schools, but it has yet to reach the mainstream. The one-size-fits-all model churns along, leaving far too many students behind.

Today, I'd like to show you how to infuse self-pacing into your own classroom without lowering expectations for your students or replacing yourself with mindless technology. The blended, self-paced, mastery-based instructional model we built at the Modern Classrooms Project offers a framework for self-paced learning regardless of where and what you teach. If implemented properly, the model can increase the rigor of your students' learning, enhance human connection and interaction in your classroom, and better prepare your students for success after they leave your class.

While the model I lay out here is undoubtedly at its best in the in-person setting, it has real value for those in remote and hybrid classrooms. With the growing need for productive asynchronous learning time, the timing has never been better for self-paced learning.

Why Self-Pacing?

What do we mean when we say self-pacing? A self-paced classroom is one where students can complete learning tasks at a speed that's customized to their personal levels of mastery. This means they may take longer with material they struggle with, skip topics that cover material they already know, or repeat topics as needed (Bray & McClaskey, 2010).

The logic of self-pacing is intuitive. Anyone who has raised a child will tell you kids learn how to do things at vastly different speeds. From walking, to talking, to stacking blocks, kids learn differently and we should honor and respect their differences. And research has long demonstrated that students learn at different paces, and the variations in rates of learning are considerable (Davies, 1973; Eurich, 1962).

But for some reason, the large majority of K-12 education has ignored this reality. Instead, we take the opposite stance that students should actually learn at the exact same pace as their peers, and if they can't keep up, we fail them or push them through the system with no regard for what they have missed. Many of the systems that still dominate much of K-12 education make it difficult for teachers to imagine a world of flexible pacing in their classroom. So before we explore the how, lets dig into some of the reasons self-pacing is so important:

1. It builds self-confidence. We all know students who walk into class already thinking they are "bad" at school. They might say they "can't write" or "can't do math" or simply "don't like learning." We have become accustomed to hearing students express these frustrations, but we don't spend enough time asking why. The truth is, countless students have spent their whole education career feeling rushed. Instead of giving them more time, we usually give them partial credit and completion grades to push them through the system. Over time, they grow to hate school because they have never experienced the joy of authentic mastery. Self-pacing gives students the opportunity to experience the feeling of true mastery, because they are given enough time and support to get there. For students who haven't often experienced that joy, it can have profound effects on their confidence.

2. It differentiates for students' needs. Everyone talks about differentiation, but it is extremely difficult to pull off effectively in the classroom. An educator's capacity to differentiate is fundamentally limited if you aren't able to modify the speed of learning based on the needs of individual students. There is only so much you can do if every kid has to move on to the next lesson the next day. With self-paced learning, students who understand a skill can move on while you provide appropriate time and scaffolds to students who are struggling to achieve mastery.

3. It supports students' social-emotional needs. When I first started teaching, I felt pulled in two directions. I was constantly trying to balance meeting my students' unique social-emotional needs with trying to maintain "order" in my classroom. These two priorities often worked against each other. Supporting a student who is struggling emotionally requires time, care and patience: all things that are limited when trying to manage a whole-class lecture or activity. In a self-paced classroom, you no longer have to choose between nurturing an individual student or tending to the larger group; when a student needs your attention, you can provide it without inhibiting the learning of everyone else.

4. It supports self-regulation. A critical and often undervalued element of education is teaching kids the 21st-century skills that allow them to become better learners over time. Self-regulation is a uniquely important skill that ensures a student can independently or collaboratively tackle a new challenge in a measured way. Skillfully crafted self-paced classrooms allow students to practice self-regulation, taking partial ownership over the planning and managing of the learning process, which has been correlated with faster learning and higher achievement (Kizilcec, Perez-Sanagusten, & Maldonado, 2017).

5. It paves the way for mastery-based grading. The final frontier of our model at the Modern Classrooms Project is mastery-based grading. The goal is to cultivate a learning environment where students progress if and only if they have shown mastery of the previous skill. A hallmark of mastery-based grading is giving students time to revise their work and be reassessed when necessary. To accomplish this, self-pacing is not just valuable, it is essential. You have to be able to let some students move ahead while others wrestle with a skill until they achieve mastery.

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The First Step: Letting Go of Whole-Group Direct Instruction

One of the primary reasons most educators don't build self-pacing into their classroom is because they are still reliant on whole-group direct instruction. This is not a surprise, given that this is how most educators are trained to teach. But as long as your students depend on you delivering a live lecture or set of instructions at the beginning of class, you'll never be able to make the leap into self-pacing. So before you consider self-pacing, you have to develop a concrete plan for replacing whole-group direct instruction with lessons students can access on their own.

To be clear, whole-group direct instruction is distinct from whole-group discussions and activities. Any effective self-paced classroom naturally infuses collaborative experiences. I will discuss how this can be done later. But the key is reducing-and ultimately eliminating-those times when kids are simply waiting for you to tell them information so they can get started on a task.

So how do you make this shift? This is where the power of technology comes into play. The most effective way to eliminate whole-group direct instruction is to build your own instructional videos. This ensures that you are still the architect of your own content but allows you to multiply yourself so you are available to spend all of class time working with students individually and in small groups. To learn how to build instructional videos, explore our free online course* or read my previous piece in Cult of Pedagogy that details everything you need to know about building a great screencast video.

How can you self-pace within the constraints of school and district expectations?

The most frequent question we receive at the Modern Classrooms Project is about keeping up with school or district assessment schedules and pacing calendars while running a self-paced classroom. I wondered the exact same thing when I started building my own and have discovered two key strategies to make this happen:

1. Self-Pace Within Each Unit of Study

Self-pacing has real power, but when implemented without guardrails it can present substantial challenges. For example, if you go overboard and let students self-pace for an entire year, you run the risk of having the faster learners fly through content while learners who require more time grow frustrated and lose motivation. This in turn can widen the gap between learners. For this reason, we encourage educators to self-pace within each unit of study, and in many cases, even shorter bursts than that. This gives students the structure they need to flourish and frequent opportunities for fresh starts as they refine their ability to be effective, self-regulated learners.

Self-pacing within each unit of study is not only effective for learners, it also enables educators to follow district- and school-level expectations around pacing. Set your end-of-unit or mid-unit deadlines in accordance with the expectations provided to you, then cultivate a self-paced learning environment within those constraints.

2. Classify Your Lessons

What happens if students don't master all the lessons in a unit by the deadline? This is the right question to ask and there is research to support that students in a self-paced learning environment might take longer with material they struggle with (Bray & McClaskey, 2010). Therefore, you should expect that some students will be unable to master every lesson before the unit deadline. To navigate this challenge, you will want to classify lessons based on importance, which will empower you to send kids on personalized pathways based on need. At the Modern Classrooms Project, we encourage educators to use the following three lesson classifications:

Must Do: These lessons cover essential skills and content, without which end-of-unit assessments cannot be completed. These lessons are non-negotiable.

Should Do: These lessons give students valuable opportunities to develop their skills or knowledge and include skills that are still considered to be "grade level expectations." However, when students fall behind and are working hard, they can be excused from these lessons and will still be able to transition to the next unit comfortably.

Aspire to Do: These are the toughest lessons in a unit; they serve as extensions for students who are ready and able to learn skills and content beyond the normal scope of the course. You should feel comfortable excusing kids from mastering these lessons if they run out of time.

Classifying lessons like these is not an exact science, and there's no right way to determine what's essential and what isn't. However, having clear expectations in mind-a reasonable bar every student must meet during the course, plus extensions for more ambitious students-will help you differentiate your instruction to meet every student's needs.

Tracking Student Progress

Most educators, including myself, initially feel overwhelmed by the idea of running a self-paced classroom. I was certainly a bit of a control freak who had a tough time imagining a student-centered classroom where kids drove their own pace. In retrospect, my inclination to micromanage the learning environment was limiting my students' capacity to immerse themselves deeply in the learning process. To soothe my own anxiety and set my students free, I had to create healthy accountability systems to give my students the necessary guardrails to flourish.

In a self-paced classroom, both students and their teacher must know exactly what they will work on every day, constantly tracking progress toward achieving learning goals and mastering content. This helps students get right to work, fosters collaboration, and allows the teacher to provide differentiated support (Lee, 2014; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack, 2001; Saphier, Haley-Speca, & Gower, 2008). To create the structure necessary for students to flourish, we encourage teachers to build clear progress tracking systems that are easy to update and reward students for effort. We suggest two ways to make this happen:

Public Pacing Trackers

These are publicly displayed in classrooms and indicate where each student is in the unit. In addition to indicating the lesson each student is on, public pacing trackers often highlight the expected pace as well as "lesson all-stars" who have produced exemplary work. It is important to note that public trackers NEVER display grades and given the nature of self-pacing, students have ample time and opportunity to catch up. Also, if lesson classifications are used effectively, the tracker should reflect effort, not ability level.

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These trackers are usually slide decks or spreadsheets that are easy to update daily. If students don't want their names displayed, consider using nicknames, ID numbers, or avatars.

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Arguably the biggest upside of public trackers is that they encourage organic collaboration. Students can easily identify others who are working on similar lessons or seek out those who have mastered the lesson they are on for support. In some cases, teachers will group students on pacing trackers to facilitate collaboration from the onset. The beauty of the public pacing tracker is that no matter the circumstances, everyone has a VERY clear understanding of what they need to be working on.

Individual Pacing Trackers

Either in addition to or in lieu of public trackers, teachers can create individual pacing trackers for students. These often come in the form of game boards or checklists and are kept in student binders or folders. Educators who use individual trackers will frequently check that students are using them effectively and accurately; sometimes they will label checkpoints indicating when students need to show mastery before moving forward.

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Regardless of which method you use, it is vital to have a method for tracking pace. Otherwise you run the risk of turning a controlled chaos learning environment into a completely chaotic one.

Maintaining a High Level of Collaboration

Too often, folks assume a self-paced classroom is one where students learn in silos, that there is a tradeoff between having a collaborative classroom and a self-paced classroom. But these don't have to be mutually exclusive. At the Modern Classrooms Project, we see educators naturally build in collaboration through a variety of strategies and techniques. Here are just a few to consider:

Classroom Learning Spaces

Unlike traditional classrooms, self-paced classrooms do not revolve around the teacher delivering content at the front of the room. Therefore, student seating should be designed to encourage collaboration and small group instruction. When students are sitting in groups, they are more likely to collaborate with their peers, either organically or by following their teachers' guidance. See how one teacher's daily seating charts foster this collaboration.

Collaborative Tasks and Activities

Whenever possible, educators can design assignments and activities that require students to collaborate to achieve mastery. Here are some examples:

1. Consider instituting a policy of "ask three (peers) before me" for classwork, requiring students to reach out to their peers for support before approaching their teacher. You can use student assistance forms to push students to work together and track their collaboration.

2. Jigsaw activities built into class practice can foster natural collaboration. For example, half the class completes one aspect of the lesson while the other half focuses on another aspect. Students then teach and learn from classmates who did the opposite assignment.

Whole-Group Discussions and Activities

Most educators who use our model schedule whole-group collaborative activities like labs, Paideia Seminars or discussions throughout their units. Students usually know when these events will happen and what lessons they need to master beforehand in order to fully participate. Many educators will also open each class up with a discussion. The topic can be content-specific or centered around the key 21st century skills they are developing and reinforcing in a student-centered classroom. Remember, whole-group discussions are welcome in a self-paced environment, just not live lectures.

Progress-Based Groupings

One of the beauties of progress trackers is they provide concrete data to support effective collaboration. If a student is struggling on a lesson, they can identify a peer who has already mastered that lesson and approach them for help. In some cases, teachers will use grouped pacing trackers designed to foster collaboration based on the different lessons students are on.

Positive Reinforcement

Most importantly, students will collaborate when they see value in it. Collaboration is at its best when students truly believe they will have a greater chance of achieving their academic goals by working with peers. To reinforce this idea, you can consider nominating "Lesson Superstars" who help their peers understand lessons the Superstars have already mastered. This elevates and praises students who are working hard to build and support a collaborative learning environment.

If you want to dig deeper into the collaborative strategies we have to offer, check out our Guide for Effective Collaboration in a Modern Classroom.

Strategies for Building Student Motivation

Once you have built a well-structured self-paced classroom, it is important to pre-plan motivation strategies that will help keep all students engaged. When students are in the driver's seat, some will excel, but others may be overwhelmed by the responsibility. This is usually indicative of a need for better self-regulation. Sadly, most K-12 schooling actually conditions kids to be compliant receivers of information. So it shouldn't surprise you when kids are startled by the sudden responsibility they have when they are able to control their own pace. Some will rise to the occasion immediately; others may initially deflate. That's ok! All the more reason to use self-paced learning to allow students to strengthen their abilities to be 21st-century learners.

In the same way that we have to scaffold academic content for students, you may have to scaffold self-pacing. Pacing trackers, self-pacing within each unit of study and lesson classifications all help with that process. But one really powerful way to keep students engaged and support their self-esteem is to build in motivation strategies that ensure students believe they can succeed with this newfound level of responsibility. We separate motivation strategies into two groups:

Relationship-Based Strategies

One of the greatest benefits of a self-paced classroom is the freedom you have as an educator to work one-on-one or in small groups with students. This allows you to have deep and meaningful content-related and non-content-related conversations with students without disrupting the larger learning environment. During those times, you can identify what inspires a student and what makes them deflate.

One of the most common strategies teachers use to check in daily with students is through our daily "do now" strategy featured in this 60-second video. Instead of starting class with an academic task, many of our teachers use a "do now" that is designed to get a temperature check on how students are feeling and allows kids to engage in some daily goal setting. This gives teachers instantaneous data on which students are feeling ready to learn and which students might need some additional support or positive reinforcement.

Incentive-Based Strategies

In addition to building strong bonds with students, it is always useful to create incentives that motivate students to stay on pace and excel. Educators use a variety of techniques, many of which look similar to the strategies they may normally use in a traditional fixed-paced setting. But some of the most effectives strategies leverage the power of self-pacing to motivate students. For example, a number of teachers will use "aspire to do" as a compelling strategy to get kids fired up about mastering content. For kids that are eager to succeed, they will feel compelled to master content beyond the scope of the unit.

In some cases, students need to see the downside of wasting time before they realize that too much procrastination is dangerous. That is why many of our teachers will use a "soft-zero" grading policy by entering "0" grades as placeholders for must-do lessons. These "0s" are temporary as long as the student eventually masters the skill. But it emphasizes the importance of mastering must-do lessons and gives students a grade-based reason to catch up. If you use this strategy, it is critical to reinforce to students that they can always catch up and celebrate them when they do!!

Where to Go to Learn More

Running a self-paced classroom is not easy. The strategies outlined above require careful planning, and implementing them effectively with actual students requires constant reflection, refinement, and commitment. With that said, both I and the teachers whom I've trained through the Modern Classrooms Project would wholeheartedly agree that the benefits-for both students and teachers-more than justify the challenges.

If you're interested in launching a self-paced classroom of your own, I'd strongly encourage you to start with our free online course*, a comprehensive overview of our instructional model, complete with exemplar units, templates, and other useful resources. We've heard from teachers nationwide who have completed this course, taken the plunge into self-paced learning, and marveled at the results. You can read many of their stories in our public Facebook Group.

Finally, if you'd like the support of an expert in building your self-paced classroom, consider enrolling in our Modern Classroom Mentorship Program. Our mentors are all teachers whom we've trained in our practices, and whom we've seen implement our model across a wide range of subject areas and grade levels. As part of the Mentorship Program, you'll be paired with a mentor and receive `1-on-1 coaching, feedback on instructional materials and plans you create, and ongoing support from the broader Modern Classrooms community. Most importantly, you'll leave the program ready to launch a self-paced learning environment of your own. If you're interested in enrolling, you can save $50 at any time with the coupon code CULTOFPEDAGOGY.

Whether you stop after reading this article, take our free course, or enroll in our Mentorship Program, I wish you the best of luck on your Modern Classroom journey. Your students, and our world, require nothing less!

* Cult of Pedagogy has an affiliate relationship with the Modern Classrooms Project. Although the Modern Classroom Essentials course is free, if you purchase one of their paid offerings through the links on this post, Cult of Pedagogy will receive a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

References

Bray, B., & McClaskey, K. (2010). Personalization vs. differentiation vs. individualization. Mid-Pacific Institute, 1(1).

Eurich, A.C. (1962). Technology in education. New Society, 11, 15-16.

Kizilcec, R. F., Pérez-Sanagustín, M., & Maldonado, J. J. (2017). Self-regulated learning strategies predict learner behavior and goal attainment in Massive Open Online Courses. Computers & Education, 104, 18-33.

Lee, D. (2014). How to personalize learning in K-12 schools: Five essential design features. Educational Technology, 54(3), 12-17.

Marzano, R.J., Pickering, D.J., & Pollack, J.E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD and McREL.

Saphier, J., Haley-Speca, M.A., & Gower, R. (2008). The skillful teacher: Building your teaching skills. Acton, MA: Research for Better Teaching, Inc.

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In a self-paced classroom, each student is given an appropriate level of challenge and grows at a steady pace throughout the school year. Here's how it works.

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Early in March, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a domino effect of school closures. Overnight, educators were forced to rethink their instruction as they moved online. Thankfully, most aren't comfortable simply replacing themselves with cookie-cutter, ready-made content built without the unique needs of their students in mind. They miss their students, and their students miss them, so they are willing to put in the hard work to ensure that their authentic teaching styles remain intact. This should not be a surprise to anyone who understands the art of teaching; technology simply cannot replace teachers.

One of the most effective ways to move instruction online is to build screencast videos. Screencast videos are unique because they are actual recordings of your computer screen or tablet as opposed to a video of an in-person lecture. They are a powerful way to deliver instruction, but they do require a fair amount of time and planning, which I have learned through a lot of trial and error. Building effective screencasts continues to be the barrier that stops educators from making a smooth transition to distance learning, so I have put together the following tips to help guide you through the process.

My Own Screencast Journey

As an educator myself, I spent several years developing screencasts and making mistakes along the way. I was fed up with lecturing and was determined to find a better way to tailor my instruction to students' needs. I knew technology could be a powerful tool to amplify my impact, but I wasn't willing to replace my lectures with a disembodied voice on a screen who didn't know my students. So five years ago, I made the commitment to eliminate lectures from my classroom and replace them with instructional videos I created myself. This allowed me to facilitate a blended, self-paced, mastery-based classroom built on the backbone of high quality feedback and differentiated instruction:

Years later, I left the classroom to launch The Modern Classrooms Project, a nonprofit that equips and empowers educators to create blended, self-paced, mastery-based classrooms of their own. Through our in-person trainings and our Modern Classroom Essentials* course, we have supported teachers as they learn how to:

Plan and record their own instructional videos

Build student-friendly websites for instructional content

Design effective self-paced learning experiences for students at all levels

The following tips align with what we teach participants about creating their own instructional videos.

Start with the Research

When launching distance learning and meeting students' needs, it can be tempting to dive head first into instructional video creation without actually understanding what works. But before you start investing countless hours of time and energy constructing videos, it's important to understand what the research says about cultivating engagement.

Video Length

The research on how long instructional videos should be is incredibly clear and tells a simple narrative: Keep it short. The ideal length should be under 6 minutes. Between 6 and 9 minutes, engagement drops slightly.

Image from Brame, 2015.

After 9 minutes, engagement drops considerably, and if your video is over 12 minutes, you have a real problem on your hands. It is important to note that the majority of these studies have been conducted on young adults, so for younger students try to keep it 6 minutes or under (Brame, 2015).

These time recommendations can make educators anxious. It can be hard to imagine how to synthesize concepts or skills in such a short span of time. One of the beauties of instructional video creation is it forces you to think about delivering content in a lean way. What is essential? What is not? And where can students discover the content for themselves without you walking them through the process?

A simple way to make videos short is by chunking more frequently. Educators are used to thinking about lessons in 45-, 60-, or 90-minute blocks of time. When you use instructional videos, those constraints disappear. A 10-minute lecture that is designed as part of a 60-minute lesson can be chunked into two 5-minute videos, each of which then becomes part of a 30-minute lesson (Ibrahim et al., 2012).

It also helps to speak quickly and enthusiastically. Teachers are used to speaking slowly and enunciating very clearly, but that is not necessary in a screencast; in fact, it can be quite boring. Instead, speak fast and use conversational language to bring your authentic self into the picture (Guo et al., 2014). Don't worry that students won't be able to follow if you speak too quickly; they can always rewind the video and watch sections again. And don't be afraid to make mistakes-a few of these will make your video sound more genuine.

Video Design

Next let's talk about design principles. First off, minimize text (Guo et al., 2014). Nothing is less engaging than an instructional video with a whole bunch of typed up text. It is especially redundant when you simply read the text during the recording. You might as well just send them a document and have them read it over instead. When possible, always accompany what you say with visuals (Brame, 2015).

Second, instructional videos do not need to be pretty; they need to be personal. Your students want to hear from you; otherwise you could just send them existing videos from YouTube. Research has shown that engagement increases when students know their own teacher is behind the screen delivering the instruction (Li et al., 2016).

Lastly, interactivity is engaging. Embedding pop-up questions into your videos provides great checks for understanding. Moreover, accompanying videos with guided notes helps kids stay focused and ensures that the information travels with them to their next task or assignment (Lawson et al., 2006; Vural, 2013; Zhang et al., 2006).

Don't Forget to Plan First

As with any lesson, good advance planning is essential. Don't just find a software, fire it up and start screencasting. This usually leads to long, dry videos that generally disregard the research. When we train educators to build instructional videos, we tell them that the large bulk of the work will be equal parts planning and recording. The rest of the time is devoted to enhancing your videos and sharing them out with your students.

In most cases, planning your video means putting together the visuals. We find the easiest tools for this are PowerPoint or Google Slides: You'd design the slideshow, then present that as the visual component of your screencast while narrating with your voice. Depending on the content area, these slide decks can look quite different from one another, but the best ones are highly visual and include a nice balance of new information and examples, with as little text as possible.

Other educators will use guided notes instead of slides. If you have already built a nice series of guided notes that would accompany your in-person lectures, those can work really well as the background of your instructional video. Whether you use a slideshow or guided notes, about 40 percent of the time you spend building your screencast should be spent preparing this part.

Finding the Right Recording Tool

If you haven't noticed already, there seems to be an endless stream of edtech products that all allow you to accomplish very similar tasks. This is especially the case for screencasting, so to keep things simple, I'll just recommend a few tools I know are good. Once you've learned those, it's pretty easy to transfer those skills to other tools you might want to try.

The big distinction in screencasting tools depends on whether you have a touchscreen device. While not required, touchscreen devices with styluses (tablets and 2-in-1 laptops) unleash a whole new frontier of functionality. Here is how you should think about the two options:

Interactive Whiteboards

(for touchscreen devices only)

If you have a touchscreen device, we encourage educators to use screencasting tools that serve as interactive whiteboards. Our favorite is Explain Everything. The beauty of a tool like Explain Everything is it acts like a highly interactive digital whiteboard with a built-in recorder and editing tool. More importantly, you get to control the background of your whiteboard. Instead of writing on a blank canvas, you're able to upload visuals-slide decks or guided notes-to become the background of your interactive whiteboard.

Here is an example of one of my Explain Everything videos: Independent vs. Dependent Variables.

For educators looking to learn how to use Explain Everything and all of its tools, you can access our comprehensive tutorial on our online course* or by clicking directly here: Explain Everything Tutorial. If you do go this route, make sure you have a stylus to annotate. We recommend the Meko Universal Stylus because it is affordable but allows for really clean and clear annotations with a high level of precision.

Traditional Screencasters

If you do not have a touchscreen device (most people don't) then do not worry! Traditional screencasters will still get the job done. With the right planning in place, you can create really high-quality, engaging videos. When picking an effective screencaster, you want to look for one that gives you a high level of flexibility, strong editing tools, annotation capabilities, and a webcam function. The most important editing function is the capacity to "truncate." This allows you to scroll to a specific point in a video and re-record when you make an inexcusable mistake without having to redo the whole thing.

Our favorite screencaster is Screencast-O-Matic. It is really easy to use and has all the functionality you need. The free version is ok, but the paid version is worth the upgrade for the added features. Here is our full Screencast-O-Matic Tutorial which can also be found on our online course*. There are many other screencasters out there with similar functionality. The product does not really matter much if it covers all the key components; in the end, it will come down to how you use it.

Since it is difficult to annotate or write using a traditional screencaster, you have to make up for that lack of functionality with animations; these allow you to show lines of text or bullet points one at a time, as you're speaking, rather than all at once. This minimizes the stress that students feel to write down everything immediately, and keeps them focused on each point of your video as you discuss it. Slide decks that are animated to slow-release information lead to far more engaging videos for students. But make sure the animations are simple and have a purpose. Avoid flashy animations and unnecessary sound effects; they prove to be more distracting than beneficial.

Recording: The Most Relaxing Part

Once you have selected your screencasting program and completed the planning process, it's time to start recording. For some educators, this is anxiety producing. Do your best to relax; the more authentic you are, the better.

Before you start, make sure you are in a quiet room and try to get headphones with a mic. For years I have used simple apple headphones with a mic. If you are looking for a more advanced option, consider a headset with an adjustable mic. When you are recording, you should have one goal in mind: Never speak without doing something on the screen.

Interactive Whiteboard (only if you have a touchscreen device): When using an interactive whiteboard, this is a relatively easy task. When possible, write on the screen. If you are reading text or images, constantly annotate.

Traditional Screencasters: When using a traditional screencaster, this can be a little more challenging. As you read text or discuss images on the screen, consider using your on-screen pen or cursor-just as you might use a finger in person-to follow along with the text. When possible, underline and circle key information. This is when animations will make your life a lot easier (Ibrahim et al., 2012).

Remember not to get bogged down in little mistakes. When they do happen, use the truncate function as opposed to re-recording. If you're feeling nervous, consider writing out a script for yourself. Speak quickly and genuinely and before you know it, you will have a solid and engaging video.

Making it Interactive

Once you are done recording your video, consider how you can make it interactive. You can build a fantastic video that follows all the right research, but without tools designed to ensure students are following along, there is a good chance they will inevitably check out.

Research shows that two simple strategies can increase student engagement with instructional videos:

Embedded Questions

One of the most important features of in-person lectures or discussions is the check for understanding. It is both an opportunity for teachers to get a temperature check on student learning and a chance for students to identify their own misconceptions. The problem with most checks for understanding is that they only engage a small percentage of students. That is not the case with instructional videos. When you upload your videos to a platform like Edpuzzle, you can embed questions and comments at key points in the video that EVERY student has to engage with. We recommend that you use closed-response (multiple-choice) questions so that students get immediate feedback on their responses. If you want to track responses, you can build classes on Edpuzzle to track the data. Here's our tutorial on how to use Edpuzzle.

Guided Notes

An easy way to ensure kids are paying attention during an instructional video is to require the completion of guided notes. The challenge is making sure that your notes support learning as opposed to being an unnecessary and tedious barrier. (For an overview of how to put guided notes together, click here.) As your students watch your videos, they should take notes on key content. If you require students to take freehand notes, you will find that some will flourish, but the large bulk will struggle. It will also extend the video watching experience and in turn take away from the rest of the lesson which is likely more engaging. Instead, consider simply providing students with copies of your slides-on paper or digitally-and allowing them to annotate these slides with you as they follow along. If you are not comfortable with that, provide an explicit note-taking model for students, such as Cornell notes, to provide them with a clear structure.

The enhancing phase of building instructional videos is easy to overlook. But it should only take 10-20 minutes per video and can have a major impact on engagement.

Next Steps on Your Screencasting Journey

Like any new skill worth learning, screencasts require planning and practice. But with time they can become an essential teaching tool - whether you're physically in the classroom or not. Research on our Modern Classroom Fellows has shown that when you use screencasts to allow for self-paced learning and mastery-based grading, it substantially improves your capacity to effectively differentiate instruction.

If you are looking for more resources and support through this process, we can help. For educators who are looking to dig deeper into our resources, see exemplar units, or learn how to incorporate videos into a fully self-paced, mastery-based classroom, our free online course can be accessed here, which includes unlimited access to our content and tutorials.

Finally, for any teachers who want help creating videos and running a self-paced, mastery-based class, we offer our Modern Classrooms Mentorship Program*. Every participant in this program is matched with an expert mentor from our Modern Classrooms team, who provides:

1. Feedback on every assignment you submit, from instructional videos to progress trackers to mastery checks

2. On-demand, 1-1 personalized virtual coaching

3. Three Continuing Education Units (CEUs) from George Mason University upon completion

Our mentors have experience creating instructional videos for students across a wide range of grade levels and subject areas, and they stand ready to share their expertise. If you're interested in enrolling, you can save $50 at any time with the coupon code CULTOFPEDAGOGY.

Whether you take our free course, pay for additional support, or simply read this article, we hope you'll join us in using instructional videos to create better learning experiences for all students.

* Cult of Pedagogy has an affiliate relationship with the Building Modern Classrooms Project. Although the Modern Classroom Essentials course is free, if you purchase one of their paid offerings through the links on this post, Cult of Pedagogy will receive a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
References:
Brame, C. (2015). Effective educational videos. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/effective-educational-videos/

Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014, March). How video production affects student engagement: An empirical study of MOOC videos. In Proceedings of the first ACM conference on Learning@ scale conference (pp. 41-50). Retrieved from https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2556325.2566239

Ibrahim, M., Antonenko, P. D., Greenwood, C. M., & Wheeler, D. (2012). Effects of segmenting, signalling, and weeding on learning from educational video. Learning, Media and Technology, 37(3), 220-235. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ980817

Li, J., Kizilcec, R., Bailenson, J., & Ju, W. (2016). Social robots and virtual agents as lecturers for video instruction. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 1222-1230. Retrieved from https://rene.kizilcec.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/li2015social.pdf

Lawson, T. J., Bodle, J. H., Houlette, M. A., & Haubner, R. R. (2006). Guiding questions enhance student learning from educational videos. Teaching of Psychology, 33(1), 31-33. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top3301_7

Vural, O. F. (2013). The Impact of a Question-Embedded Video-based Learning Tool on E-learning. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 13(2), 1315-1323. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1017292

Zhang, D., Zhou, L., Briggs, R. O., & Nunamaker Jr, J. F. (2006). Instructional video in e-learning: Assessing the impact of interactive video on learning effectiveness. Information & management, 43(1), 15-27. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378720605000170

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Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Everything You Need to Know About Building a Great Screencast Video

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Moving some of your instruction to video? Learn how to plan, record, and enhance screencast videos students will actually watch.

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Sponsored by Hapara and Kiddom

Most teachers can relate to that sinking feeling you get when you forge ahead to a new lesson even though many of your students aren't "getting it." The pacing guide says it's time to move forward, there is a planned assessment just a week away, and you feel compelled to keep pushing through. But you know that isn't what's best for kids. Skills build on each other. Kids can't sprint before they walk. They can't write a paragraph before they write a sentence.

Ultimately, every educator wants to create a classroom that honors the fact that students must first master foundational skills to access more complex content. But we don't provide them with a blueprint for how to do it. We expect mastery from students, but don't create the conditions that give them the time and support to achieve it.

The good news is, the final frontier of the blended, self-paced, mastery-based model we have created at the Modern Classrooms Project addresses this very challenge. In this piece, I'll lay out the structures and systems you need to cultivate a mastery-based classroom of your own. With the growing diversity of academic and social-emotional needs as a consequence of the COVID pandemic, a mastery-based approach is not just valuable, it is necessary.

The Value of Mastery-Based Grading

Before you make the leap into transforming your classroom around mastery-based grading, it's critical to understand why it is so valuable. At its core, mastery-based learning refers to the notion that students must meet a certain level of competence for a task or skill before moving on to the next. Aside from it sounding quite sensible, there are some core reasons why mastery-based grading is truly valuable for students:

Prevents lingering skill gaps: Every teacher knows what it is like to start a lesson, only to realize a few minutes in that a number of students aren't ready for it. This is the consequence of sustained skill gaps. Kids have been pushed through class after class and lesson after lesson without achieving actual mastery. We collectively sweep foundational skill gaps under the rug, knowing that eventually it is going to create challenges for students when presented with more complex skills. It also leads to enormous variability in learning levels within the same classroom, school, or district. It is no surprise that when mastery-based grading is implemented effectively it is associated with a decrease in the amount of variability in aptitude between students (Anderson, 1994; Kulik, Kulik, & Bangert-Drowns, 1990). Moreover, it leads to a substantial increase in students' ability to retain their learning long-term, thus ensuring they are set up for success when they leave your classroom (Kulik, Kulik, & Bangert-Drowns, 1990).

Builds student confidence: Mastery-based grading is integral to building students' sense of self-worth in the classroom. Kids are not oblivious to the fact that they are being moved on from one lesson to the next without actually fully grasping the skill. In fact, every time they do get pushed forward without achieving mastery, they question whether or not they are holistically "good" at a particular subject. When this happens over and over, they question whether they are even capable of academic success. In a mastery-based setting, where students are given a true opportunity to succeed, they develop more positive attitudes toward the content being taught. (Anderson, 1994; Kulik, Kulik, & Bangert-Drowns, 1990). More importantly, they start to believe in themselves as young scholars and ultimately improve their academic self-concept (Anderson, 1994; Guskey & Pigot, 1988).

Prepares students for the real world: In my first few years as a classroom teacher, I thought the best way to support my students was to just give them everything they needed. I shielded them from productive struggle, I didn't require mastery, and I conditioned them to believe completion and effort were sufficient. At the time, I thought I was doing what was best for kids, only to realize later I had let them down. I misrepresented how they would be treated when they left my classroom and traveled on to college or the workplace. In these settings, they felt blindsided when suddenly they were held to mastery. They needed to show competence and were expected to be self-aware enough to identify when they needed to engage in further learning or seek out additional support. When we don't hold our students accountable to mastery, we fail to prepare them for what's next in life. We sell them a false reality that will only hurt them in the long run and sometimes when it is too late.

Setting the Conditions Needed for Mastery-Based Grading

It can be hard to imagine how to implement mastery-based grading when you have never done it before. The core limitation is the attachment most educators have to fixed-pace learning. To implement mastery-based grading you have to challenge the status quo of traditional systems where all students have the same amount of time to achieve competence. Instead, in mastery-based learning each student continues to spend time on a skill until they achieve proficiency (Dick & Reiser, 1989).

For that to become a reality, educators need to infuse elements of self-pacing in their classroom so they can let some students work on one lesson while others move on to the next because they have achieved mastery. Instead of looking at a unit and saying students NEED to learn lesson #1 on Monday and lesson #2 on Tuesday, we need to honor the fact that learning just isn't that rigid.

Now I could write a whole piece discussing how to build a self-paced classroom, and the good news is I have! To learn how, explore our free online course* or read my previous piece here on How to Create a Self-Paced Classroom.

The Two Stages of a Student's Journey Towards Mastery

Once you have established the conditions necessary to grade students on mastery, then it's time to design the systems necessary to make it happen. Reaching mastery is a journey and typically involves two stages:

Stage 1: Developing Mastery Through Practice

As soon as a student is exposed to a new skill, they need to practice that skill. The practice stage should be where they spend the majority of their class time. It is when students are truly developing their understanding of the material. Designing effective opportunities for practice should include:

Application of the Material: For practice to be productive, it must include applied learning. This can be done through discussions, labs, readings, worksheets, and other activities. Some of the best forms of practice are driven by inquiry and constant questioning. The experience should be scaffolded so students are systematically engaging in more challenging work as the lesson builds, bringing the student closer and closer to mastery.

Opportunities for Collaboration: Ideally, practice time is collaborative. Students should be able work together to understand new content and ask questions to peers who may have already mastered the skill. In an effective mastery-based environment, educators are also working to build students' ability to be self-regulated learners. Instead of running a teacher-centered classroom, students should be at the center and teachers should serve as a guide as students lean on each other through the journey to mastery.

Constant Revision: One of the most important elements of building an effective mastery-based grading classroom is cultivating a culture of revision. Students need to internalize that to achieve mastery you should EXPECT to revise your work. This is a novel concept to many students and will result in some pushback, which is a good thing. During this practice time, students should be submitting assignments and receiving feedback from their teacher on areas that need improvement. Unlike a traditional setting, where students turn in assignments and never see them again until they are "graded," in a mastery-based classroom, students are constantly revisiting their assignment until they understand the material enough to demonstrate their mastery. To revise effectively, students should receive clear feedback on what they do and do not yet understand. They should also receive actionable suggestions for what they should do to progress to the next phase of the learning process where they will demonstrate mastery.

Stage 2: Demonstrating Mastery Through Mastery Checks

Once a student has practiced sufficiently, it's time for them to demonstrate that they truly are a master of the skill! To provide students with this opportunity, educators need to design effective assessments that allow students to prove their understanding of a given skill or concept.

We call these assessments "mastery checks," and students take them at the end of each lesson prior to moving on to the next one. They emulate the function of an exit ticket but aren't administered at the end of a class period. Instead, mastery checks are administered when a student has practiced the content adequately and feels ready to show their understanding of the content in a controlled setting. Designing effective mastery checks is integral to running a mastery-based classroom. Here are some important characteristics to consider:

Administered Individually: Unlike the collaborative practice stage, students take mastery checks independently. It is students' opportunity to show that they can execute the skill without the support of their peers. Mastery checks are taken whenever students are ready for them, so you will often have a number of students demonstrating their mastery on different lessons at the same time. To manage the workflow and reduce the chances of cheating, many educators create a "Mastery Check Zone" in their classroom. That area of the classroom is completely silent and reserved for students who are demonstrating mastery.

Easily Assessed: At this point, you can probably tell that a mastery-based learning environment requires a fair amount of grading. The key is the grading is purposeful and leads to real data-driven instruction. To help manage the flow of work, it is important to build mastery checks that are easy to assess. These are ideally bite-sized and do a nice job of balancing depth of understanding with efficient assessment. We encourage educators to use a mastery check template to keep a consistent structure. Keep in mind that mastery checks do not all need to be the same format or be delivered in the same medium. They can look like a mini-quiz, a sorting activity, or verbal assessments. As a teacher, you will know best what a student needs to do to demonstrate their understanding of a skill.

Opportunity for Reassessment: The heartbeat of an effective mastery-based grading environment is reassessments. Students and teachers should all come to the collective understanding that part of the journey to mastery is frequently falling short on assessments, reflecting on why, and then re-demonstrating mastery. To do this effectively, teachers develop a clear understanding of what constitutes mastery and then hold students to it. To support this process, a number of educators build rubrics for their mastery checks to ensure the grading process is as efficient as possible and the evidence is clear when a student needs to be reassessed.

Many educators build multiple forms of each mastery-check to allow for easy reassessment. This is highly contingent on the content area. For example, in math classes where students are learning about factors, it is quite straightforward to build multiple forms of the same mastery check. Alternatively, in an English class where students are learning about character and theme, it may make more sense to simply have students revisit the same mastery check if they did not achieve mastery.

Bear in mind that there is no one universally accepted method to executing a mastery-based grading system. You are the expert in the room and understand best what will work for you and your students. Once you have a plan, make sure to articulate it clearly to your students. Nothing should feel like a surprise.

Preparing for Pushback and Challenges

As with any important and innovative shift you make in the classroom, you should expect pushback and setbacks. Traditional practices in teaching and learning have remained in place because they are comfortable and often convenient. Don't be surprised if students, parents, colleagues, and admin express hesitation about your vision. More importantly, expect to have your own doubts throughout the process. Prepare yourself for these common transition challenges:

1. Student Frustration

Most students have spent their educational career in environments that did not expect mastery; they are used to moving on to the next lesson regardless of competency. So when they enter a mastery-based environment, they will inevitably be surprised and quite frustrated. The first time they are asked to revise or be reassessed, they might ask why and in some cases express anger that you aren't simply just moving them on. This type of reaction is all the more reason we need to move forward with mastery-based grading. This is good pushback, an indication we are truly changing students' perception of learning in a way that has long-term positive impacts. The key is not to be surprised by it and to be prepared to articulate the rationale for the shift. The more frustrated your students get, the more they likely need to learn this shift before it is too late.

2. Working with Traditional Gradebooks

Often at the Modern Classrooms Project we field questions regarding whether a mastery-based grading approach can work with a traditional gradebook. I can assure you the thousands of educators who have implemented our blended, self-paced, mastery-based approach do so in traditional schools and districts that require A-F grades quarterly. The shift you are making is largely centered around how you actually treat grading each individual assignment and mastery check.

Take the example of a unit with 5 lessons and a summative assessment. Let's assume each lesson has an associated assignment (scored out of 10 points) and mastery check (2 points) and the summative assessment is a test (50 points). In a traditional fixed-paced classroom where students aren't graded based on mastery, a student might get the following grades:

The problem with a structure like this is students and teachers alike don't actually know what lessons have been mastered. The partial credit grades tell us very little about a student's competence of skills. It ultimately leads to a letter grade that is hard to explain.

Alternatively, in a mastery-based grading system, you can use the exact same grading structure, but simply only award students with credit if they have achieved mastery. Therefore, a student might get the following grades:

The beauty of this approach is both students and teachers know exactly what skills kids do and do not understand. In this example, the student mastered Lessons #1-4 but not #5. Naturally it will also be reflected in the summative assessment where the student scored an 82%, which is expected given they mastered 80% of the lesson.

One thing to note is that most educators we support through our model only self-pace within each unit of study and still give summative assessments at a scheduled time. They usually grade those "traditionally" and use them as an opportunity to reflect with their students and craft a plan for addressing students' gaps in understanding.

3. Keeping Up with Grading

As an educator who spent my first 3 years in the classroom teaching traditionally, I HATED grading. It was certainly mundane, but worse, it didn't feel purposeful. I wasn't using the information to drive my instruction. By the time I passed back work, my students had already forgotten about what they did. It felt like busy work that took up way too much time.

In a mastery-based grading environment, there is a fair amount of grading. Teachers often express that keeping up can be challenging. But the grading actually matters. It drives the discussions you have with students in small groups and individually. It triggers revisions and reassessments where students use your feedback to revisit skills to build competence. There isn't a silver bullet to reduce the grading load. Some teachers leverage tech-based assessment to accelerate the grading. Others spot check assignments and focus their energy on mastery checks for efficiency. Ultimately, you will strike the right balance, and will derive relief and excitement from the fact that grading actually feels purposeful! ( Listen to our podcast on managing grading here.)

Where to go to learn more

Creating a classroom built around mastery-based grading is challenging! It requires thoughtful planning, detailed grading and a commitment to doing what's best for kids even when there is pushback. I can assure you the benefits outweigh the challenges. Both I and the teachers we have trained at the Modern Classrooms Project can attest that the transformation to a mastery-based grading approach has lasting impacts on students' perceptions of learning and their sense of self-worth. For students to believe in themselves, they need to be given the time and space to truly demonstrate their excellence.

If you're interested in launching a mastery-based classroom of your own, a great place to start is our free online course. The course provides an in-depth overview of our blended, self-paced, mastery-based instructional model packed with templates, tutorials, exemplar units and other useful resources. Additionally, you can hear from real Modern Classroom teachers and mentors as they share about their experience by listening to our Modern Classrooms Project Podcast.

Finally, if you'd like more structured support as you make the leap into mastery-based grading, consider enrolling in our Modern Classroom Mentorship Program. As part of the program, you'll be paired with a mentor and receive 1-on-1 coaching, feedback on instructional materials and plans you create, and ongoing support from the broader Modern Classrooms community. Most importantly, you'll leave the program ready to launch a mastery-based learning environment of your own.

Regardless of your next step in your professional learning journey, challenge yourself and the many assumptions we have made about grading practices in education that don't contribute to learner understanding. More importantly, work to hold your students to mastery because they deserve nothing less. When we hold students to high expectations, they rise to the occasion.

References

Anderson, S.A. (1994). Synthesis of research on mastery learning. Information Analyses (ERIC Reproduction ED 382 567).

Dick, W., & Reiser, R.A. (1989). Planning effective instruction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Guskey, T., & Pigott, T. (1988). Research on group-based mastery learning programs: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Research, 81(4), 197-216.

Kulik, C., Kulik, J., & Bangert-Drowns, R. (1990). Effectiveness of mastery learning programs: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 60(2), 265-299.

* Cult of Pedagogy has an affiliate relationship with the Modern Classrooms Project. Although the Modern Classroom Essentials course is free, if you purchase one of their paid offerings through the links on this post, Cult of Pedagogy will receive a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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How to Set Up Mastery-Based Grading in Your Classroom

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Sponsored by Hapara and Kiddom Most teachers can relate to that sinking feeling you get when you forge ahead to a new lesson even though many of your students aren't "getting it." The pacing guide says it's time to move forward, there is a planned assessment just a week away, and you feel compelled to keep pushing through.

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Exemplar Modern Classrooms — Modern Classrooms Project

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Explore blended, self-paced, mastery-based classrooms taught by real educators, and consider how you might create a similar learning environment for your own students.

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This packet is printed at the beginning of the essay task.

It is collected at the end of each class and handed back out at the beginning of class.

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Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

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I complete mastery checks at the end of the independent work time. Notice the tracker on my laptop.

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Notice that all students are working on different lessons depending on where they are at in the process. That way, absences do not interrupt the flow of learning. Students can pick up exactly where they left off.

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Teacher Feedback, Metacognitive Reflection, and Peer Feedback Guidance

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Teacher Feedback, Metacognitive Reflection, and Peer Feedback Guidance

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Notice that I am helping another student in the back. By leveraging the students who have mastered the material, I can reach more students within a smaller window of time.

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Throughout the packet, students have an exemplar to refer back to as they work on their own essay component. In the EdPuzzle videos, I model how I create the exemplar and guide their annotations of the exemplar.