Personalized Learning

Video Transcription

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you're having a wonderful day today. Today, we're going to take a look at personalized learning. And for today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Dr. Seuss which says, "Today, you are you. That is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you." And I think this is a fun quote that directly applies to personalized learning.

By the end of the lesson today, you will be able to define personalized learning. You will be able to discuss the five essential elements of personalized learning. You'll be able to describe what instruction and assessment looks like in personalized learning environments. And you'll be able to explain how competency-based education really meshes with personalized learning.

First, let's go ahead and take a look at personalized learning. Personalized learning can be defined using the US Department of Education's definition. Now, this is from 2010 when the USDOE really focused in and created their Learning Powered by Technology plan. So according to them, personalized learning is really an alternative to the one-size-fits-all model of teaching and learning. That was its development.

And it was focused in specifically referring to instruction that is paced to those learning needs so specifically looking at that idea of being individualized, learning that is tailored to learning preferences. So there, we're focusing in on the idea of being differentiated and tailored to the specific interests of those different learners so that we're really looking at reaching each student as an individual.

Now, one of the benefits of personalized learning is that it needs to be in an environment that is fully personalized. In those environments, you will notice that the learning objectives and content as well as the method and pace will all vary based on the student.

Let's focus in a little bit more on all the different facets of personalization. First, I want to look at within personalized learning why, why personalized learning. Well, there are six kind of major common reasons why schools are using elements of personalized learning.

The first is that it tends to actively increase the engagements. If it's personal to the student, they're more interested. It also creates those opportunities for students to really engage with authentic problem solving and learning, pushing students to see the value of what they are doing.

Three, it empowers students to take advantage of their own learning, to really take a step in creating their own learning. It allows for students to really master content and then move on at their own pace. So students are able to really go farther faster. And they're able to get much deeper into the learning that they're doing.

Five, it really helps to leverage that technology to expand education. So it really focuses on leveraging that beyond the school house walls and expanding education into everyday elements of life. And finally, it really focuses in on helping to support the acquisition of those 21st century skills so that students are seeing the application just beyond the classroom to college and career.

Next, let's look at those five essential elements of personalized learning. First and foremost, personalized learning is flexible. It is anytime, everywhere learning so that students are able to engage with it at any time they choose.

Personalized learning really does redefine the role of the teacher. It expands, in fact, the role of the teacher so that you are not just the giver of knowledge but the coach and the facilitator and many other roles. It tends to be absolutely project based and really focuses in on those authentic learning environments.

The fourth essential element of personalized learning is that it is student driven. So the learning that plans and the learning path that those students take are determined by the student and their ability to achieve mastery. And finally, connecting right to that is that it is based on mastery or competency-based progression. So the pacing is really determined by whether or not the student has reached that mastery within a particular competency.

Let's take a look at what instruction looks like within personalized learning environments. First and foremost, it tends to be one to one or in small group. And there are very clear learning targets that are present. Those learning targets are based on the standards and competencies.

Now, within that, there tends to be a lot of interactive elements to the classroom and very high engagement from the students because they have that personal connection. In addition to that, the content tends to be very relevant. And it is very authentic to the student, helping to increase that high engagement.

Finally, there are a wide variety of resources that can be used as well as multiple learning styles that you can cater toward. So if someone is more an auditory learning as opposed to a visual or interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic, all of those different learning styles can be allowed for within personalized learning.

And finally, there tends to be a lot of student-centered questioning and discussion techniques used so that, again, the students are the one really driving and taking ownership.

When we look at the way in which assessment looks in personalized learning environments, you often see many different multiple types of assessments so that students can show their mastery in different ways. Also, there tends to be an assessment of the proficiency and mastery not being tested on how much time they are sitting in the classroom.

There are also very frequent formative assessments so that students are able to track their learning as they progress through certain competencies and many opportunities for them to prove that proficiency or, if they have not been able to reach it, to retake it.

There is also a great emphasis on peer review and assessment so that students are really helping to engage with other students and a lot of those problem-based hacks and authentic assignments so that students are really engaging with things that they will be encountering outside of the classroom.

Lastly, what I'd like to do is really look at that connection between personalized learning and competency-based education. First and foremost, when we look at the idea that students advance upon demonstrated mastery, what we're seeing here is that it's really related to instruction in that we're focusing in on the standards and competency based. But it's also related to assessments in that there are frequent assessment opportunities so that students can prove their proficiency.

When we look at the second idea that is explicit and measurable learning objectives, what we see there is relation to instruction through the idea that there are clear learning targets that are presented by the teacher and that, when we look at it related to assessment, that students are able to really take on those authentic learning assessments.

Three, assessment is meaningful. That transitions right into the idea that within assessment, there are many frequent opportunities for students to prove their proficiency, different ways for them to show that and to review their peers so that that assessment becomes a meaningful tool for their learning.

Four, also, you'll notice that there are problem-based tasks. So when we look at this, we look at the idea that students are really focusing in on those projects and solving problems rather than just jotting down facts and information.

The next is that students receive that differentiated support. When we look at this in relation to assessment, we see that there are opportunities to really focused in on the multiple learning styles and student-centered discussions so that students are really able to see that. And then the learning outcomes include that application and the creation of that knowledge.

We see that there are really those interactive, high-relevancy opportunities so that you are seeing all of these various essential elements played out in the connection between personalized learning and competency-based education.

Now that you've reached the end of the lesson, you are able to define personalized learning, discuss the five essential elements of personalized learning, describe what instruction and assessment looks like within personalized learning environments, and explain how competency-based education really meshes and connects with personalized learning.

Now that we've finished the lesson, I'd like you to think just a little bit on what you think would be the most difficult part of incorporating personalized learning into your classroom.

To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the additional resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material.