Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Wanjira Kinuthia

Abstract

Educators must meet the needs of the growing online gifted learner population to ensure these students are being appropriately challenged and are receiving the education they deserve. Current gifted education literature does not address the strategies for differentiating the curriculum for online gifted students. The study participants were teachers with at least 5 years’ experience working online or working with gifted students. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the best strategies for teachers to use to differentiate the curricula for this population. The theoretical frameworks used were Ward’s differential education and Tomlinson’s differentiated instruction methods. Both theories emphasize the importance of providing curricula for identified gifted students that is uniquely different from the program(s) provided to the “average” student. The research question centered on the best strategies teachers could use to differentiate curricula for online gifted learners. The method used was a Delphi study in which the first-round instrument was created using Qualtrics and contained a list of 33 commonly used methods for differentiating curriculum in the traditional classroom for the panel of experts to rank in order of importance to use for the online gifted population. Panelists added 11 statements during the rounds. The results were the panelists felt almost all of the strategies used for differentiating curricula in the traditional classroom should also be implemented for gifted students in the online learning environment. The implications for social change include a list of the best strategies online teachers can use to meet the needs of online gifted students.

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