A Deeper Understanding Through Personalized Learning

During this class, I learned so many things that will assist me in my future job as a school media specialist. The thing that really stands out to me is in the area of personalized learning. It is a trend, but it’s certainly not so trendy that it’s going to disappear. It is here, and districts have invested ALOT of money into these devices, apps, wifi, professional development for teachers, more technicians to service them, etc. Of course, we do believe in the postives to these devices, and it's not all about the financial investment. I do alot of work with personalized learning in my current job, and reading the Horizon Report section on Deeper Learning Approaches really resonated with me, especially the following quote:

Pedagogical approaches that shift the paradigm from passive to active learning help students to develop original ideas, improve information retention, and build higher-order thinking skills.” (Freeman, et al., 2017, p. 14).

Photo Credit: http://www.lemars.k12.ia.us/?page_id=643

Whereas many years ago, rote memorization was the way to teach and learn, we have done a complete 180 in education. Learning needs to be meaningful, thoughtful, creative, and forward-thinking, and what better way than thinking 21st-century skills through technology? It is proven that kids do not remember information and therefore cannot apply it in their lives if they do not learn in meaningful ways. They make real-life connections by doing hands-on activities, and this includes through personalized learning devices.

It is so important to stay on top of the trends in Personalized Learning. I plan to subscribe to enewsletters and blogs. Sometimes it's as simple as being on a list serve of media specialists and emailing back and forth. Asking thoughts and opinions and exchanging ideas is crucial!

A challenge is the “all in” mindset of educators that we recruit, as well as the existing teachers, and retaining teachers. We need teachers that can adapt to technological change. But we do need a balance. Students should not be in front of a screen all day. It should not replace every single thing they do in a school day. They still need to read actual books in their hands, to write on paper, and interact with peers and teachers face to face.

It is exciting to see what the future brings in the area of personalized learning!

Photo Credit: http://www.attendparisschool.org/?page_id=130

Sources:

Freeman, A., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Davis, A., and Hall Giesinger, C. (2017). NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2017 K–12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.