Personalize Learning (#plearnchat)

"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.