This Time, It's Personal

It's been a while since I've posted here. What's written below is part of a practicum with the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Technology. We are conducting Learning Labs to explore what personalization means and looks like in several Vermont schools. Below are my thoughts on some of the nitty-gritty details of personalized learning.

1. What is personalization?

Today, everything is personalized. Want a phone that will play "Call Me Maybe" every time your significant other calls? No problem. Want a hat decorated with rhinestones and a cat doing a backflip? Sure. Want to learn about anything, anytime, anywhere? You can do that, too. With the advent of the Internet and digital media, it has become easier than ever to personalize our lives. Why not personalize our education as well? Right now, as I have mentioned, we really can learn anything at anytime, anywhere. So, personalization in education to me means harnessing that ability in a public school setting, training and developing the skills in young people to be able to access and understand the information that's out there. It also means providing the opportunities for students to direct their own paths through the education system, learning about the things that matter to them while developing these skills.

1. How is it similar to / different from differentiation?

The differences between personalization and differentiation may appear at first to be subtle, however they are two very different practices in education. Differentiation is, simply, leveling the playing field for our students. Differentiation practices create equity in the classroom, allowing students of all learning styles to access the same information and demonstrate proficiency in whatever challenge is laid before them. Personalization, on the other hand, is how those students choose to access what they learn and how they can prove what they know. For example, if the task at hand is to demonstrate proficiency in analyzing primary source documents, differentiation can come into play when regarding levels of text complexity. Students can personalize this learning experience by analyzing primary source documents in a an historical context of their choosing.

1. What are the design features of learning settings that get personalization right?

When designing a personalized learning experience, it is important to consider the workflow of what students will learn and how they will show their learning. I believe this workflow is twofold: First, students need a learning management system that will allow them to independently access the content. Whatever that system may be, it needs to have core and supplemental learning resources that students can use towards proving proficiency in whatever standard is being addressed. Secondly, there needs to be a structural system in place, within the classroom, that sets up the structure for learning. I always think about this practice developed at Shelburne Community School as a great example of a structure that gets personalization right. It's a long and complicated journey, one that is being tackled piece by piece by different schools around the state. But, as my father used to always say, "What's the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time."