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Heather A Ochmane-Learning Ecologies MOOC’s Updates
Update #7 Personalized Learning
Personalized Learning
I once met a young lady in her pre-teens who had no concept of what public schools was like. Her parents had tired a full-time private teacher for her as she traveled the globe with her parents. I remember thinking if I’d had that kind of education how that would have affected me and how different a person I would be. What a glorious education that would be! Learning about the world by exploring it firsthand in addition to having a personal teacher/tutor.
Personalized learning reminded me of that young lady. Personalized learning is customizing the learning experience to each student. This includes how the student best learns and relies on knowing “each student’s strengths, needs, skills, and interests”. (Morin, Amanda). It’s designed to help the student by meeting their needs and interests. This is out of the box thinking that did not exist in my educational world growing up. The Personalized Learning method is the not same as the Individualized Education Program (IEP) which supports students with individual needs and or disabilities. With a personalized approach it may even help get rid of the stigma around special needs as everyone studies at their own pace.
The premise behind this type of learning is “The hope is that will improve a wide range of student outcomes, from engagement to achievement to wellbeing”. Herold, Benjamin (2019).
Not everyone is on board with this type of learning. Especially when it comes to how it could affect the teacher as this method requires a lot of preparation. “The process is time-consuming and doesn’t promise results if the journey isn’t carried out accurately or the student loses interest or keeps beating around the bush” (2021).
In my estimation it’s a great idea. Whether it can be done in public school is another matter. I really appreciate that fact that it’s being discussed, and, in some places, it is being practiced.
References and Citations:
Morin, Amanda. “Personalized learning: What you need to know”. Accessed from understood.org/articles/en/personalized-learning-what-you-need-to-know.
Herold, Benjamin (2019) “What Is Personalized Learning?” Accessed from edweek.org/technology/what-is-personalized-learning/2019/11.
“Pros and Cons of Personalized Learning” (2021) https://understandingecommerce.com/pros-and-cons-of-personalized-learning.
Thanks, @Cindy Bohn, for this update that relates Personalized Learning with a personal story.
Personalized learning drives student engagement. It creates a fun and dynamic atmosphere in the classroom that drives academic success and personal growth.
Students are given time to explore subjects that interest them, in ways that work best for them. They are allowed to express their curiosity and put forth their best work using tools and strategies that highlight their abilities. When each student is allowed to shine in his or her own unique way, the classroom culture will become more positive and students will be encouraged to keep pushing themselves to do better on each successive project.
Technology’s role in enabling personalized learning can be traced back to the ‘teaching machines’ in the 1920s and 1950s. Today, technology-supported personalized learning can allow different kinds of content to reflect learners’ own preferences and can also enable the pace of learning to be adjusted in a way that empowers learners to choose how, where and when they learn.
Technology can be used to help reduce the load of the teacher's preparations.
Technology puts students in more active and engaging roles, particularly about how to collaborate and research, as well as how to generate, obtain, manipulate, interpret, and display information.
Besides the ease of using multi-media, the biggest impact of technology is the ability to gather immediate feedback on students’ understanding and use the information to customize subsequent lessons.