Learning in the 21st Century: Passion and Personalization
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In June, I attended the annual conference of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) with several of my DSC colleagues. Whether attending a workshop, lecture, or keynote session, we heard two words time and time again—passion and personalization. I thought I knew what these terms meant and how they might apply to learning, but began to question my understanding, especially of the latter term.
One speaker who provided a bit of a definition was author Marc Prensky. As a member of the panel for the opening keynote, Redefining Horizons: Encouraging Students’ Passion to Achieve, he urged teachers to help students find and follow their passion. He believes that passion is the key to 21st-century education because it leads to motivation, and motivation leads to learning. He asserted that to help students follow their passion, every student needs a personalized curriculum. By this he said he does not mean we take one curriculum and then personalize it for each student, but that each student has a curriculum designed just for him or her. You can view a six-minute segment of some of his remarks here.
During that same keynote session, Karen Cator of the U.S. Department of Education implored teachers to personalize the learning environment “so every student has a chance.” She reported that Race to the Top is now funding personalized learning, providing nearly $400 million in school district grants to take classroom learning beyond a one-size-fits-all model and bring it into the 21st century. A press release about this competition can be found here.
Not only was I surprised to learn that passion and personalization have anything to do with Race to the Top, but I wondered whether Karen Cator and Marc Prensky are operating with the same definition of personalization. Throughout the conference, I continued to wonder what a speaker meant whenever he or she used the term, and whether the definition was the same for all speakers.
After the conference, I began an online search to learn more. This led me to this article on the U.S. Department of Education website that explains,
Individualization, differentiation, and personalization have become buzzwords in education, but little agreement exists on what exactly they mean beyond the broad concept that each is an alternative to the one-size-fits-all model of teaching and learning. For example, some education professionals use personalization to mean that students are given the choice of what and how they learn according to their interests, and others use it to suggest that instruction is paced differently for different students….[W]e use the following definitions:Individualization refers to instruction that is paced to the learning needs of different learners. Learning goals are the same for all students, but students can progress through the material at different speeds according to their learning needs. For example, students might take longer to progress through a given topic, skip topics that cover information they already know, or repeat topics they need more help on.Differentiation refers to instruction that is tailored to the learning preferences of different learners. Learning goals are the same for all students, but the method or approach of instruction varies according to the preferences of each student or what research has found works best for students like them.Personalization refers to instruction that is paced to learning needs, tailored to learning preferences, and tailored to the specific interests of different learners. In an environment that is fully personalized, the learning objectives and content as well as the method and pace may all vary (so personalization encompasses differentiation and individualization).
Hmmm. I kept looking. Further investigation led me to Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey. These educators created a chart to help us better understand the three terms defined in the Department of Education article. You can find the chart here. You can also find the website they designed specifically to discuss personalized learning here.
Bray and McClaskey contend that personalization is student-centered and that differentiation and individualization are teacher-centered. My interest in student-centered learning prompted me to look for examples of personalization in the elementary grades, particularly how elementary students might help design their own learning goals. I found a glimpse of how that might look here.
Now I turn to you. What do you see is happening in schools?
- Are the terms personalization and passion part of the discussion about learning and teaching in your school or district?
- How does your school or district define individualization, differentiation, and personalization?
- Have you moved toward personalizing learning in your classroom? If so, what does that look like? What have you learned? What have been your challenges?
- How has technology helped with this effort?
I look forward to learning from you!
Laurel Robertson is a Senior Program Manager at Developmental Studies Center
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