Digital Equity & Perspective Pod Project

Persona

Photo by Zak Neilson on Unsplash

Name: Johnny

Age:  16

Gender: Male

Lives in: Victoria, BC

Interests: Soccer, Video games, Puzzle games, Sudoku, Chess

Education and Experience: 

Johnny is a Grade 11 student at Mount Douglas High School in Victoria, BC. He is enrolled in multiple advanced placement classes, frequently finishing at the top of his class. Since early elementary, Johnny has exhibited multiple intelligences that correspond with the gifted exceptionality. In 5th grade Johnny was given several tests (including I.Q.) to be assigned the gifted designation (category P) and has been working with an IEP since.

Some supplemental services that Mount Douglas High School provides for Johnny are:

• Specialist teachers in resource centres or resource room
• Special groupings which provide opportunities for learning with intellectual peers
• Opportunities to take enriched courses and to participate in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or honours courses

However, because of his poor interpersonal skills, he tends to struggle with classes that require group projects and/or discussion groups. Johnny frequently stays up late at night to complete his high standard of schoolwork and because he lives quite far away from his high school, and has to wake up early to arrive at school on time, he is often tired during school hours.

Roles and Responsibilities: 

As Johnny wishes to pursue an education in Computer and IT, one of his main responsibilities is keeping exceptionally high grades in all of his classes, in particular his advanced placement classes. Maintaining high grades will allow Johnny to compete for a scholarship to BCIT. Although Johnny struggles in group environments due to his lack of interpersonal skills, he is also enrolled in a Chess Club, where he uses his logical-mathematical intelligence to compete in rigorous games of chess against his peers. Johnny understands that engaging with clubs will also enhance his chances of a scholarship. For Johnny, being involved in a group environment such as the Chess Club is a major responsibility and one that he does not take lightly. Although he already has an extreme workload, coupled with the stress of a long commute to and from his school, he finds the Chess Club (which is conveniently located in his school’s library) to actually invigorate him, and this allows a release for Johnny and his busy schedule. As Johnny prefers to work independently and quietly, the Chess Club provides a unique balance of engaging with his peers while maintaining his preferred learning context in which he can excel. As Johnny also excels in areas of STEM, he tutors one on one for several younger students at his school. Tutoring one on one allows Johnny to work on his English language skills in an environment that is not extremely overwhelming. Tutoring also allows Johnny to work on his lack of interpersonal skills, as he must lead each tutoring session and be capable of building secure and trustworthy relationships with the students he is helping. Tutoring also allows him an opportunity to save money for expenses that will incur when attending university. When Johnny is at home, his main responsibility is to take the family dog for a walk. Johnny’s family is aware that he has many school responsibilities, and they believe giving Johnny the task of taking out the family dog for walks within the neighborhood is a great way to relieve any stress and anxiety he may be feeling. Getting out in nature is one of Johnny’s favourite past times, and taking the time to unwind with the family pet helps Johnny to relax.

Technical Skills:

Johnny is a proficient technology user, being exposed to it from a young age (he is now 16 years-old). He owns a laptop and a cell phone and enjoys playing video games that feature coding and programming tasks. He frequently uses Microsoft Word and Powerpoint for school assignments and has internet available to him at both school and home. He also enjoys watching YouTube videos in order to gain additional knowledge of various subjects.

Subject Domain Skills & Knowledge:

Johnny has multiple intelligences that help him to thrive in the STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and math) academic disciplines.  His visual-spatial intelligence helps to visualize the world in 3-D. His logical-mathematical intelligence comes in handy in mathematics, chemistry, and physics allowing him to quantify things and make and test hypotheses. His naturalistic intelligence helps him in biological sciences to understand living things and nature. Additionally, Johnny also possesses a bodily-kinesthetic intelligence that helps him in physical education (specifically the soccer pitch).

Motivation & Desires/Goals & Expectations:

Johnny would like to get into BCIT for their full-time Computer and IT program. His exceptional talent with software programs, proficient use of digital technology, and passion for learning propels his desire to become a software system developer one day.

Obstacles to their success

Johnny is an English Language Learning student (E.L.L).  At home, his family speaks mostly French. Johnny’s language barrier presents several struggles for him in typical school environments. Johnny struggles with interpersonal skills. Group projects and certain team environments in school cause a lot of anxiety for Johnny. This makes collaboration and communication with others a challenge. Additionally, Johnny has difficulty with oral communication skills and explaining his thinking out loud. Another issue for Johnny is time and lack of sleep. Unfortunately, his family moved recently making his commute to school much longer. The long commute coupled with Johnny staying up late to maintain the high academic standard he set for himself means that he is tired and lacking energy at school. 

Ideal learning Context:

Johnny’s ideal learning context is spaces where he can independently study and learn without external distractions such as loud chatter. His creativity and diligent work ethic are at its full potential when he is alone in a quiet environment where he can engage in hands-on learning. He has impressive focus during class lectures, but group discussions and social interactions tend to make Johnny feel withdrawn. 

Unique Assets: 

Johnny is a gifted student who excels in higher-order thinking skills like creating, evaluating, and analyzing. He is intrinsically motivated so he is exceptional at completing his school work in a timely manner without external reminders. French is Johnny’s first language but, since moving to BC, he now speaks English, making him bilingual. Johnny has extensive computer skills and is very proficient at computer programming and 3D design. He also excels at chess, puzzle games, and sudoku because of his exceptional deductive reasoning skills. 

Pitch

Many students face a unique set of challenges that present barriers to efficient learning. This diversity must be acknowledged by constructing an equitable and inclusive learning environment designed to support their individual struggles. Our persona Johnny is a gifted 16-year-old male who is enrolled in Mt. Douglas High School as an eleventh-grade student. His age and lack of interpersonal skills is best suited for a distributed environment where he can engage with his peers and protect his privacy from public exposure. This paper will examine all aspects of Johnny’s academic background, his real and perceived learning barriers, and lastly, supportive strategies and tools that can improve his learning experience.

Johnny’s learning takes place mostly online, but he still has a few face-to-face commitments at Mount Douglas. He meets with his I.E.P. case manager once a month, participates in an E.L.L. class once a week, meets with the Chess Club at school, and tutors younger students in-person. All of Johnny’s other courses besides E.L.L are online in distributed environments. Considering his struggles with communication and interpersonal relations, it’s important to keep assignments and related school deliverables confidential. This would not be easily achievable in an open environment, whereas a distributed environment may afford him the opportunity to utilize an LMS that has restricted access to the student and instructor. Other than his synchronous E.L.L. class, the rest of Johnny’s learning takes place asynchronously on Google Classroom, which is the preferred LMS of SD61 schools. 

Johnny has inequity and cultural considerations that prevent him from achieving a flexible and supportive learning experience. The first and most significant issue is his language barrier. Since Johnny’s first language is French, he struggles with maintaining interpersonal relations and accurately communicating his feelings in English, which is needed when establishing social connections and participating in team-based projects. To aid Johnny with these struggles, Mount Douglas High School schedules him appointments with a case manager who helps build his interpersonal skills, and he also attends an E.L.L. class once a week to improve his English. Another obstacle that Johnny faces is that living quite far from Mount Douglas High School forces him to endure a long commute, making it difficult for him to acquire a healthy amount of rest. This puts him at a considerable disadvantage because it makes him feel more burnt out than other students. Johnny adapts to this issue by completing most of his classwork in an online asynchronous and distributed learning environment. This provides Johnny the opportunity to do his schoolwork when he feels most productive rather than adhering to typical school hours, which works well for him as an intrinsically motivated individual. The ability to access material and complete his work at any time within pre-set time frames supports his busy schedule. An additional benefit is that due to Johnny’s language barrier and communication challenges, having more time to formulate his responses is preferred to synchronous classes that favor fast thinkers and typists. However, this type of learning environment is not perfect. 

There are a multitude of barriers that Johnny must combat within his distributed and asynchronous courses. Almost all of Johnny’s classes are online, so if he is struggling with a concept from the course material that is essential to his learning, he does not have immediate access to an educator. Although Johnny does have Google classroom and Google Meet where he can access support, there are sometimes scheduling conflicts between him and his teachers because of his busy schedule. Along with this learning environment comes the issue of technological accessibility. Johnny must have access to technology to complete assignments, engage with his teachers and case manager, and interact with his peers. He has access to both a laptop as well as an iPad at home, but he must share both devices with his family members who use them occasionally. This technological barrier means that Johnny must make sure he has effective time management so he can complete all necessary assignments and engage effectively with his classes. Next, we will discuss accessible and supportive resources for Johnny that will improve his learning experience.

Regarding the digital tools to support Johnny’s distributed learning, SD61 uses Google G-Suite for Education. G-Suite has strict filtering, ad blocking, and 3rd party scanning. All student work using G-suite is also hidden from the public. Other Google tools to support Johnny’s learning needs include the following:

• Google Classroom: LMS for assignments, grades, discussions.
• Read&Write (Chrome extension): text to speech.
• Google Translate: French to English translations.
• Google Jamboard: collaborative whiteboard with his peers.
• Google Meet: video-conferencing if Johnny needs support from his teachers.

Additional tools Johnny can use where his work is protected includes the following:

• Duolingo: improving his reading and writing in English.
• Explain Everything: digital storytelling/interactive multimedia learning.
• Trello: organize schedules, projects, goals, sharing capability.
• Tinkercad Classroom: 3-D design and geometry.
• Scratch: Programming. 
• Minecraft (within protected Minecraft Classroom/World): build structures in 3-D, survival mode

Johnny demonstrates how supportive resources such as community-centered online forums, digital learning aids, personalized progress meetings, and flexible time commitments may encourage effective engagement and decrease gaps in learning outcomes. By acknowledging social, cultural, health, and relevant barriers that create learning inequities among students, schools can further develop effective teaching strategies that will create a more inclusive education system.