Giving Compass' Take:

• EdSurge discusses how personalized learning often falls short because of a perception that individualization is at its core, whereas we should encourage more "points of convergence."

• Those in the education space should think carefully about introducing new technologies to personalized learning curriculum, making sure that they don't result in students being isolated.

• Here are 7 questions to ask when it comes to scaling personalized learning. 

It makes perfect sense why there is a push for personalized learning in our schools. It is a well-intentioned response to the standardized curriculum and instructional practices that date back to the last century. As an ideal, personalized learning aims to provide instructional experiences tailored to each learner’s preferences and interests, and at a pace appropriate to their needs.

But despite our good intentions, personalized learning in practice often falls short of those ideals. And that’s due to a number of misconceptions that persist around personalization.

Because “personalization” emphasizes focusing on the needs of each individual, we sometimes assume that to mean that a child’s education should then be individualized. It is this assumption that has given us the many web-based, adaptive technologies that individualize curriculum on our kids’ behalf. That can result in teachers putting tablets in front of kids, letting the technology do the work, and meanwhile calling it “personalized learning” when it’s anything but that.

What we fail to realize is that individualization actually has diminishing returns. As individualization increases, so does the potential for isolation. In classrooms where the primary mode of personalization is hyper-individualized, technology-driven curriculum, we find our children siphoned off into silos, taking away valuable points of convergence.

When we take away points of convergence, we take away opportunities for our children to learn from, through, and with each other. We rob them of opportunities for social-emotional learning through serendipitous and spontaneous interactions. We limit the amount of time children can learn through meaningful dialogue and discourse. In essence, we take away the very things that make the human condition of learning utterly personal in the first place.

Read the full article about trying to refine and define personalized learning by Paul Emerich France at EdSurge.