Personalize Learning (#plearnchat)

Australian school children can be at the leading edge of learning if schools embrace new technologies to offer a more individual education experience, new research reveals.

 

The author of the report, Personalised Learning, by Ms. Susi Steigler-Peters of Telstra Enterprise and Government concludes that after some 30 in-depth interviews with senior administrators, that “Students are looking for a robust learning ecosystem that is ‘learner centric’, taking into account the needs, interests, and learning style of the student and leveraging technology in a meaningful and engaging way.”

 

“While there were wide-ranging views and opinions offered on the future of education, a common thread running through our interviews was a universal “call for change”. As often repeated, the industrial age model of education has outlived its purpose. For those who must now complete in a new global knowledge economy, the current educational model is not meeting the needs of today’s students. The question is in what ways do we change this century-old model? Our respondents were clear. It starts with the learner and their changing expectations.”

"On Thursday, November 3rd, 2011, members of the Metro Vancouver education community from a range of perspectives met to address the big questions around Personalised Learning. As an organization, BCASCD promotes the exemplary practices in curriculum and develops leadership and professional capacity for the success of all learners. As such, a roundtable on Personalised Learning was held. The executive invited educators from a range of districts and on various pathways of their careers in education, including student-teachers, classroom teachers, district support teachers, vice-principals, principals, district principals, post-secondary teacher-educators, and senior administrators.

 

Four areas around Personalised Learning were discussed, with the intent of creating a working document demonstrating what Personalised Learning may look like at a class, school, district and provincial level."

 

These areas were:

> Stakeholders:  Who are they?  What are their needs?

> Competencies/skills/knowledge: What are the ‘must-haves’? What are the ‘would-like-to-haves’?

> Assessment/Reporting: How does Personalised Learning change reporting schedules, assessments (AFL) and student engagement;

> Structures: What are the environmental/space/time requirements.

 

Read about what ideas emerged from this roundtable discussion as British Columbia embarks on implementing personalised learning in their province.

Pasi Sahlberg is director general of the Centre of International Mobility in Helsinki, Finland. He is also an educator, researcher and school improvement activist.

"Pasi said that although Finland now topped tables of educational achievement - attracting the interest of policy makers and educationalists the world over - the country's international rankings were of little concern to the country's principals and educators, whose focus had always been teaching and learning and ensuring that every child was in a good school.

He outlined key approaches that contributed to Finland's success, including less teaching time than in many countries, pupils spending less time studying (children start schooling aged seven) and fewer tests. Finland favours holistic and personalised learning over core subjects and standardisation. And he emphasised that genuine collaboration and striving for equity for all pupils had a central role to play."

"Some companies are using the term "personalized learning" when actually they are designing courses or platforms where the teacher can control who accesses particular content or quizzes based on their answers. To me that's customized and still teacher-directed. There is a difference between personalization and differentiation. One is learner-centered; the other is teacher-centered.

Teachers are confused about the term "personalized learning" because they only know how to teach they way they were taught. So when I come in and talk about student-centered learning and starting with the learner, it just doesn't happen right away. There are teachers that are posting lessons using the term "personalized learning" but have all control. I say "maybe this is the first step" to moving to student-centered learning, but it is not there yet."

 

As a curator on personalized learning, there are numerous definitions being thrown around and I want to note from my research on the subject of personalized learning that it is about the individual learner.  There is no shortcuts in understanding each learner.  Let's stop and take the time to know the learner from the perspective of their strengths, weaknesses, aptitudes and aspirations. It is paramount that the learner understand how he or she learns and then develop the skills to self-direct their learning.

"Personalised learning (PL) is an educational philosophy that focuses on a student's individual goals, talents, aspirations and learning outcomes. Through a semester unit, our class has completed "Self-Directed Music". Through my reflection process, I found that this semester went through 5 stages that I will share with you here."

 

Step 1: Develop student understanding of PL
Step 2: Establishing your role as an educational "personal trainer"
Stage 3: Motivate, Affirm and Develop (MAD)
Stage 4: Collaboration and Assessment
Stage 5 - Evaluation and Reflection

"In spite of the increasingly prevalent role of technology in all facets of our lives, the uptake of learning technologies remains limited. OEB 2011 keynote speaker Jeff Borden argues in favour of the personalisation of education through technology and outlines how education data can help this process."

http://www.ted.com In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools t...