The Two Faces of Personalized Learning

Essential Update #7 – Clifford Blizard

For this final essential update in this course, I would like to consider personalized learning, and especially in the context of the online university setting. What precisely is personalized learning? One commonly accepted definition, resulting from the analysis of thousands of educator surveys administered by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is this: “Personalized learning prioritizes a clear understanding of the needs and goals of each individual student and the tailoring of instruction to address those needs and goals” (Pane et al., 2017, para. 4). What does this look like? Here is an excellent brief video on how personalized learning can work effectively, including a number of examples of pertinent technological tools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oLNLCO0vfI

As explained in the video clip, one means of personalizing education is to utilize a competency-based outcome model for online learning. In that model, successful earning of a degree is based upon demonstrating mastery of particular skills (competencies). Students can then select the learning experiences and resources that enable them to develop those competencies. The result is a Netflix-type university experience, in which students pay for a subscription to all the available learning resources, and utilize them on their own time and at their own pace, establishing mastery through successful test performance. If students already have abilities in a particular area due to work or other previous experience, they can skip over those materials and proceed directly to the test. This approach has enabled a student in a remote corner of the Navajo reservation (living in a home without electricity) to complete a university degree through a personalized learning online program offered by Northern Arizona University (NAU) (Sreenivasan, 2017). In a nod to the value of multimodal learning opportunities discussed earlier in this class, here is a video on the NAU program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4pRewWZIYk

Personalized learning can also be utilized in specific online courses, through providing adaptive learning technologies, ones that adjust the content of learning material or quizzes to reflect a student’s actual abilities. This approach is particularly helpful in providing remedial learning opportunities to students on the university classroom. For example, Tekin and Schaar (2014) utilized an adaptive e-Tutor program to determine what sequence of learning materials should be offered to students. In this way, student learning per unit time invested was optimized. For non-traditional students juggling one or more jobs with family responsibilities, reducing time spent on classroom tasks can sometimes be a key determinant in assuring academic success.

Both of the examples above are instances where the personalized learning offered serves to isolate the student from his or her peers, or at very least does not promote learner interaction and collaboration. Both focus instead on optimizing meeting individual students’ needs. However, it is also possible to employ personalized learning strategies for better meeting students’ goals and interests. Enabling students to select the learning experiences and tasks that most appeal to them can enhance student engagement and the sense of ownership of the learning process (Evans & Boucher, 2015). Campbell and Cox (2018) contend that offering university students an assignment in developing their own video can serve as a personalized learning activity, because the students are tasked with developing their presentation according to their own abilities and interests. In a case study of a scaffolded education graduate class assignment in digital video work, participating students reported that “because the activity was authentic, fostered student choice, [and] provided outlets for collaboration and feedback…, they were driven more to learn more to complete the video (Campbell & Cox, 2018, p. 20). In this application of the concept of personalized learning, students became more engaged in the learning experience while also collaborating with each other.

Sources Cited

Campbell, L. O., & Cox, T. (2018). Digital Video as a Personalized Learning Assignment: A Qualitative Study of Student Authored Video using the ICSDR model. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 18(1), 11-24.

Evans, M., & Boucher, A. R. (2015). Optimizing the power of choice: Supporting student autonomy to foster motivation and engagement in learning. Mind, Brain, and Education, 9(2), 87-91.

Pane, J.F.; Steiner, E.D.; Baird, M.D.; Hamilton, L.S. and J.D. Pane. (2017) Observations and guidance on implementing personalized learning. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, RB-9967-BMGF. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9967.html

Sreenivasan, H. (2017, 19 Sept.). How “personalized learning” can put college in reach for nontraditional students. PBS News Hour [website]. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/personalized-learning-can-put-college-reach-nontraditional-students

Tekin, C., Braun, J., & van der Schaar, M. (2015, April). eTutor: Online learning for personalized education. In Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 2015 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 5545-5549). IEEE.