Personalized Learning isn't About Tech

Personalizing learning doesn’t necessitate investing hundreds of dollars per child in expensive hardware or applications—but it does require an investment in people and in fostering relationships between them. This investment can be as minimal as a few simple changes in mindset and practice, ones that move away from personalizing for students and toward personalizing with them.

Source: Edutopia

Rethinking School Schedules

Explore several school's rethinking of school schedules.

Source: Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education

Scheduling for Learning, Not Convenience

A/B, 4X4, or traditional block? Six, seven or eight-period day? Within those structures, what strategies for flexibility exist? When it comes to secondary school scheduling, there are many options. Which schedule is best?

Source: Getting Smart

Four Inquiry Qualities At The Heart of Student-Centered Teaching

Whether it be project-based learning, design thinking or genius hour, it's easy to get confused by the many education buzzwords floating about. But at their heart these pedagogies are all student-centered and there are commonalities across them that are the key to their success and far more critical than keeping the jargon straight.

Naturally, educators want to understand each of these frameworks in order to make an informed decision as to how to best meet the needs of their students. The "Tree of Inquiry" is a visual guide for educators who are interested in shifting their practice but are unsure where to begin. Inquiry-based learning is the foundation for all of these student-centered strategies -- students are asking their own questions, discovering answers and using their teachers as resources and guides. Schools and classrooms where deep inquiry is clearly at work invariably possess four specific characteristics no matter the specific type of inquiry utilized.

Source: KQED Mindshift

Since 2010 Education Elements has supported more than 150 districts, 600 schools, and 550,000 students with personalized learning implementations. They established the Core Four of Personalized Learning: four key elements that they believe ensure that personalized learning is implemented with high fidelity and success.

Source: Education Elements

I’m a Principal Who Thinks Personalized Learning Shouldn’t Be a Debate

Personalized learning looks different in every classroom, but the common thread is that we now make decisions looking at the student. We ask them how they learn best and what subjects strike their passions. We use small group instruction and individual coaching sessions to provide each student with lesson plans tailored to their needs and strengths. We’re reimagining how we use physical space, and the layout of our classrooms. We worry less about students talking with their friends; instead, we ask whether collaboration and socialization will help them learn.

Source: Chalkbeat

Meeting children’s needs: An international perspective on personalized learning

As personalized learning research gains momentum, there is one big piece that has been missing from agendas. All leading definitions claim that personalized learning is primarily about addressing individual students’ needs.[1] For around a fifth of children in the U.S., key needs include health, food and housing.[2] But the emerging research on personalized learning shrinks this concept to entail only academic content needs, with the hypothesis that this can be met by progression based on mastery.

Getting Started with Personalized Learning: Resources for Education Leaders, Teachers and Policymakers

Across the country, states are supporting local efforts to redesign K-12 education around student learning with personalized learning and competency education. By shifting away from an industrial-era education model and toward personalized education, we can build a system that provides each student with powerful, transformative learning experiences that prepare them for a lifetime of success.

Metacognitive Reflection at Report Card Time

Report card assemblies promote growth mindset and help students see the link between their actions and their grades.

Report card distribution used to be a dramatic activity at our high school. Students would either cheer in happiness or get upset with their teachers. They rarely reflected on how they had earned their grades or on how they could improve.

We decided to do a project aimed at building metacognition to help students see the link between their actions and their grades and to foster a growth mindset toward learning.

Source: Edutopia

Six Examples of What Personalized Learning Looks Like

Here is a short collection of videos, photos, artifacts, and teacher testimonies that we hope will help illustrate what personalized learning could look like at your school or district. Some of these examples are from Education Elements districts and schools, and some are from other places!

Source: Education Elements

Personalized vs. differentiated vs. individualized learning

Words are meaningless unless all concerned agree on their specific definitions. Even if there is a general consensus on terms, what those terms actually mean in the real world has a tendency to evolve and morph without warning.

Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the field of education. In fact, there are so many “terms du jour” thrown around, tweeted and traded these days that their intrinsic value is often questionable, and confusing. Take the terms differentiated, individualized and personalized. What can we make of these three near-synonyms? Short answer: Plenty!

Source: ISTE

6 Models of Blended Learning

Here are the learning contexts and environments, along with an associated model for blended learning:

1. Blended learning model in elementary schools: Station rotation model

2. Blended learning model in middle schools: Lab rotation model

3. Blended learning model in high schools: Individual rotation model

4. Blended learning model for higher education: Flipped classroom model

5. Blended learning model for the workplace environment: Enriched virtual model

6. Blended learning for mobile delivery: Ubiquitous learning model

Source: SoftChalk

Getting Better At Personalized Learning

Here's a startling statistic: 40% of high school students are chronically disengaged in school. There are enough reasons to go around, and I'd agree that many of them are outside of a teacher's direct control. But some of them aren't. As we pursue a set of skills, I have a great deal of control over how that happens in my classroom, so going into this school year I asked myself:

• How can student-interest and inquiry drive the learning?

• How can my teaching be more responsive to student needs?

• How do I help students realize their own agency and ability to effect change?

Source: TeachingChannel

In Pursuit of Personalized Learning

This is the first in Sean McComb's Getting Better Together series, In Pursuit of Personalized Learning. Sean and all the Teaching Channel Laureates are going public with their practice and seeking support in getting better from colleagues and the Tch community.

Source: TeachingChannel

Getting Rid of Grade Levels: A Personalized Learning Recipe for Public Schools

This personalized-learning track, designed for 94 students in grades 2-5, is moving away from the 2nd grade classroom, 3rd classroom, and so on. Instead of being confined to grade-level classes, students will move in “studios.” Studios will be aligned to grade level standards determined by four teachers (identified as “studio coaches”), but the students won’t know if they are moving up or down. In fact, there are no numbers involved; each studio will be a letter of our program, called EPIC (Empowering, Personalizing, Innovating, Creating).

Source: Learning Personalized

Birmingham Covington: Building a Student-Centered School

Educators take on the role of guides and motivate students to direct their own learning.

Source: Edutopia

Students at the Center: Personalized Learning with Habits of Mind

by Bena Kallick (Author), Allison Zmuda (Author)

Educators' most important work is to help students develop the intellectual and social strength of character necessary to live well in the world. The way to do this, argue authors Bena Kallick and Allison Zmuda, is to increase the say students have in their own learning and prepare them to navigate complexities they face both inside and beyond school. This means rethinking traditional teacher and student roles and re-examining goal setting, lesson planning, assessment, and feedback practices. It means establishing classrooms that prioritize

Learner-Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion and Unleash Genius

by Dr. Katie Martin (Author)

What if education could be better--for students and for educators? Our changing world demands creative thinkers and collaborative problem solvers, but too often, schools stifle growth and discovery in favor of getting through the curriculum or preparing for "the test." Learning opportunities and teaching methods must evolve to match the ever-changing needs of today's learners. This book is for you if you are wondering . . . What if learners were valued for their diverse talents and not just our traditional model of "smart"? What if I could create new and better experiences for those I serve? What if I could inspire students to learn, to discover their passions, and to share their ideas with the world?

Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning

by John Spencer (Author), A.J. Juliani (Author)

Kids begin their learning journey as curious problem solvers who ask questions and create solutions. As they go through school, something happens to many of our students, and they begin to play the game of school, eager to be compliant and follow a path instead of making their own.

As teachers, leaders, and parents, we have the opportunity to be the guide in our kids' education and unleash the creative potential of each and every student. In a world that is ever changing, our job is not to prepare students for something; instead, our role is to help students prepare themselves for anything.

Dive into Inquiry: Amplify Learning and Empower Student Voice

by Trevor MacKenzie (Author)

Want to make learning more meaningful in your classroom? Looking to better prepare your students for the world of tomorrow? Keen to help learners create authentic connections to the world around them? Dive into Inquiry beautifully marries the voice and choice of inquiry with the structure and support required to optimize learning for students and get the results educators desire. With Dive into Inquiry you’ll gain an understanding of how to best support your learners as they shift from a traditional learning model into the inquiry classroom where student agency is fostered and celebrated each and every day. This book strikes a perfect balance of meaningful pedagogy, touching narrative, helpful processes, original student examples, and rich how-to lesson plans all to get you going on bringing inquiry into your classroom.

Make Learning Personal

by Barbara A. Bray (Author), Kathleen A. McClaskey (Author)

Personalized learning empowers learners to take control of their own learning. This resource draws on Universal Design for Learning® principles to create a powerful shift in classroom dynamics by developing self-directed, self-motivated learners. You’ll discover:

• A system that reduces barriers and maximizes learning for all learners

• An explanation distinguishing personalization from differentiation and individualization

• The Stages of Personalized Learning Environments that transform teacher and learner roles.

• Background information to build a rationale on why to personalize learning

• Strategies around the culture shift in classrooms and schools as you personalize learning.

As recognized authorities, the authors have led educational innovation for almost three decades.

Genius Hour: Passion Projects that Ignite Innovation and Student Inquiry

by Andi McNair (Author)

Genius Hour provides educators with the tools that they need to successfully implement genius hour, or passion projects, in the classroom. Presented through an easy-to-follow six-step strategy, teachers will utilize the six P's-passion, pitch, plan, project, product, and presentation-as a map for students to follow as they create, design, and carry out projects. Students will experience personalized learning through these self-driven projects, application of standards and real-world skills, and opportunities to learn through failure and reflection.

The Blended Learning Blueprint for Elementary Teachers

by Jayme Linton (Author)

Designed to help K-5 teachers develop and carry out a plan for effective instruction in blended environments, this resource identifies key competencies and strategies for development, culminating in a personalized implementation plan.

Summit Learning is a personalized approach to teaching and learning inspired by Summit Public Schools' mission to help every student lead a fulfilled life.

As a learning design firm, Getting Smart provides advocacy, advisory and coaching services that support more powerful learning for all. We partner with education focused foundations, learning organizations, schools and districts to invent the future of learning. that support more powerful learning for all. We partner with education focused foundations, learning organizations, schools and districts to invent the future of learning.

On December 9, 2016, the Education Redesign Lab released Personalizing Education at Scale: Learning from International System Strategies. The report features a series of case studies that explore personalized education efforts across the globe.