AFFORDANCE 7: PERSONALISED LEARNING

Throughout time, students have not changed much, what has changed, are the tools we have available to address the needs of students. Technology is one such tool. Educators can now address the needs of students through the mode they are best in at any time and any place (Bray & McClaskey, 2013).

The terms personalization, differentiation and individualisation are often confused. The chart below compares the terms in relation to instructor and learner roles:

As far as technology and personalized learning is concerned, a set of technologies is available to support learners in their own learning. However, we are all so used to the traditional teacher-centred learning environment, that transcending to personalized learning, takes time as it is a process and the different parties should not expect instant acceptance or even results.

The following section gives a very basic explanation of the different stages in the quest to personlaize the learning environment:

The educator must know the strengths and weaknesses of each student.
The learning environment has to be re-designed to encourage learner voice. This can be the physical classroom environment, but also the online environment.
The educator has to integrate technology in a thoughtful way, to give choices to learners in how the learn best. An example of this may be e.g. uploading a reading passage, as well as a narrated video as well as well as a voice recording to cover three different modalities linked to possible learning styles.
The next stage should involve learners in the decision making process on how they want to express themselves and which skills and strategies they have as well as which need to be developed. This stage will involve some of the affordances discussed earlier in this course, namely metacognition (thinking about their own learning). Learners are expected to demonstrate what they have mastered and where they still need support.
Ulitmately, the next stage will start where learning is driven by self-directedness because the learner is driven by his/her interests, and aspiration. Fleixble learning assignments which allow for self-paced learning as well as personalized content delivery are central here: This once again links to the third affordance of this course, namely multimodality.

The following link will provide more information on this challenging concept, with a six-step guiding plan to start engaging with personalized learning:

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1015153.pdf

Bray, B. & McClaskey, K. (2013). A step-by-step guide to personalized learning. Learning and leading with technology. ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), iste@iste.org, www.iste.org.