Giving Compass' Take:

• The author explains key components that are integral to understanding how personalized learning is very different from traditional learning styles. 

• What are the biggest differences between personalized learning and traditional? What are potential challenges when shifting away from traditional? 

• Read about how online resources help personalized learning. 

Personalized learning is neither a technology nor a tool; rather it is an approach—one designed to unlock the full potential of each learner. The teacher and the learner collaborate to drive learning and pinpoint individualized needs, plan the right instructional path, and design the learning curriculum.

While we cannot predict the future for each of our students, we can predict that persistent, self-directed, life-long learners will be best positioned to prosper. Personalizing learning is essential to developing these skills in our learners.

  1. Teacher-Directed vs. Learner-Centered: Who makes decisions and drives learning?  The continuum for teacher-directed to student-centered learning presents opportunities to make decisions that impact learning design.
  2. One-Size-Fits-All vs. Variety of Learning Interactions: To which learning resources will the learners have access?  Math educators and learners planning classroom strategies often find that incorporating a wide variety of practices into the instructional learning design can more effectively assist students in meeting academic goals.
  3. Technology to Enhance vs. Technology to Transform:  There is no guarantee that incorporating technology into a math classroom will help deliver a more engaging and personalized experience for students.
  4. Data Evaluates Learning vs. Data Impacts Learning: Is assessment used primarily for evaluation? Data gathered from assessments should help inform changes to support learning, decisions about revising curricula, and choices regarding learning opportunities.
  5. Pacing-Chart-Driven vs. Competency-Driven: Do all learners move through the curriculum at the same time, regardless of proficiency?  Providing the right instruction at the right time for each student and ensuring that learners show proficiency on high stakes assessments are persistent challenges for most educators.
  6. Independence vs. Collaboration:  Imagine a class where students use adaptive learning software to work on exactly the material they need, exactly when they need it.

Read the full article about key factors of personalized learning by Janet Pittock at Getting Smart