Personalized Learning

What is personalized learning?

Personalized learning is the new buzz-word in education and in some ways goes back to the one-room school house.  It is meeting the needs of each and every learner and allowing them to fully master a concept or idea before being taught a new one.  It basically means that a student who comes to school knowing his/her letter sounds can be taught to read while other students who do not know their letter sounds can work on phonemic awareness.  It also means that students who do well with simple instructions and prefer learning independently can do so while students who are social learners can learn from each other.

Who participates in personalized learning?

Anyone can participate in personalized learning, but those who attended classes through the 80's and 90's probably spent time sitting in desks, listening to teachers describe the process of multiplying by lining up the numbers and carrying the one have to wrap their heads around the teacher not being the center of learning.  Personalized learning would mean teaching the multiplication concepts in varying ways and allowing the students to choose which method works best for them.

When does personalized learning occur?

Anytime!  Anytime that a student is engaged in learning a concept personalized learning is occurring.  Does that have to occur between the hours of 8 AM & 3:30 PM?  No!  Personalized learning may be while students are playing with a jump rope and counting the number of jumps to learn one-to-one correspondence, or it may be while a student is learning to blow bubbles while swimming and the instructor is telling the story of the Three Little Pigs and using the "Then I'll huff, and puff, and blow your house down," to reinforce not only the action of blowing bubbles in the swimming pool, but to reinforce literary concepts.

Where does personalized learning occur?

Anywhere!  Personalized learning doesn't need to be confined to a brick-and-mortar school building.  It can happen anywhere, and it should happen everywhere.  It could be in the traditional classroom, the library, on a field trip, in a museum, online, in the park, or in a swimming pool.  The possibilities of where learning can occur are endless and students who receive personalized learning, learn concepts how and where they learn best.

Why should learning be personalized?

Learning should be personalized because we no longer live in a one-size-fits-all society.  The majority of us are able to personalize our entertainment beyond the big three broadcasters and many of us have ditched the concept of television as we grew up with it altogether.  So why should learning be any different?  Students are no longer going into jobs that have existed for many years, instead, they are going into fields that we may not even have the concepts for yet.

How do we personalize learning?

Students receive personalized learning by being surrounded by people that can provide them with learning opportunities at every intersection in their life.  In addition, the world of online and blended learning has opened up a huge window to the data that can help transform a student's learning. Read more about the "How" in the next blog post.





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