students spend working independently
on a computer at home and school.
Proponents of blended learning
argue that the model helps teachers
customize digital lessons designed
to meet individual needs and allow
learners to work at their own pace.
Yet, as I listen to teachers and
principals, I worry that personalization
has come to mean something very
different from the personally relevant
student-directed experiences that
today’s students crave most.
Personalized vs. personal
approaches
What is the difference between
personalized and personal approaches
to teaching and learning? In the ed-
tech community, personalization is
described as a top-down designed or
tailored approach to learning whereby
experiences can be customized for the
student, but they are still controlled by
the teacher.
Digital playlists, for example, are
designed to serve up learning based on a
formula of what teachers (or computers)
think a particular learner needs most.
Students have the ability to move
through sequenced activities at their
own pace but, often, they have little
choice in selecting the activities they
engage with and even less control over
how they demonstrate understanding.
Moreover, students typically move
through personalized playlists
independently with few opportunities
to construct ideas and collaborate
with others. Finally, personalized
instruction seems to require students
to interact with a computer.
Personal learning experiences,
on the other hand, involve something
human whereby students initiate and
control the learning process. Often, this
type of learning emerges from actively
engaging and talking with others about
one’s personal wonderings. Often,
these wonderings are sparked by a
topic or problem encountered in school,
at home, or in the community. These
personal learning experiences offer
students opportunities to generate
questions and create products that
connect their own interests to real-life
concerns in personally fulfilling ways.
Importantly, technology is not
critical for learning to be personal.
Rather, all that is needed is space and
to their interests. Then, introduce
students to a range of texts, tools,
and people offline and online that
they can connect with and use
as springboards to become more
emotionally engaged with their
own learning.
2. Expect learners to talk.
Design personal digital inquiry
experiences to foster collaborative
discussions that lead to multiple
pathways for knowledge building,
knowledge expression, and
personal action. Engage students
with literacy experiences
that facilitate face-to-face and
online conversation building,
argumentation, negotiation, and
presentation skills.
3. Encourage digital creation.
Remember that personal
learning experiences are created
by individuals, not delivered
by computers. Asking students
to create original products,
including digital compositions,
enables them to share new
knowledge while connecting
insights to different spheres of
their lives (school, home, and
community) in meaningful and
relevant ways.
4. Make space for students
to participate and matter.
Actively involve students in deep,
authentic, and personally relevant
learning experiences that foster
academic achievement, reflection,
and civic engagement. Through
participation, individuals assert
their autonomy and ownership
of learning; in turn, their inquiry
becomes more personal and
engaging.
As you explore ways to personalize
learning in your classroom, strive
for that delicate balance of talk and
technology use within student-directed
learning spaces where all learners have
a voice and the opportunity to learn
about what they love most.
time to actively reflect, collaborate, and
engage with personally meaningful ideas.
However, once students are empowered
to direct their own learning pathways,
technology can open the door to an
infinite range of texts, tools, and people
they can use to explore and connect ideas
in these meaningful ways.
Why the big fuss?
My concern is not that technology is
playing an increasingly important role
in teaching and learning or that schools
are exploring the potential of blended
learning approaches to differentiate
instruction. When blended learning
is implemented successfully, teachers
and students use a range of human
and digital resources to improve
their ability to think, problem solve,
collaborate, and communicate. A
delicate balance of talk and technology
use keeps all of us grounded in
conversations with other people about
what really matters.
What worries me is that, in
some circles, personalized learning
increasingly has come to represent a
narrow strategy of computer-based
instruction with limited opportunities
for human interaction and personal
ownership of the learning process. When
blended learning becomes synonymous
with separating students into cubbies
equipped with headphones and
customized digital playlists for a large
percentage of each school day, we risk
losing sight of the human elements that
make learning a truly personal endeavor.
Where do we go from here?
As we continue to explore approaches
to blending learning, I believe at least
four sets of instructional practices can
serve to connect today’s digital learners
to their world in ways that matter.
1. Build a culture of personal
inquiry. Provide regular
opportunities for students to
pursue topics that are meaningful
A delicate balance of talk and technology use
keeps all of us grounded in conversations with
other people about what really matt ers.
LITERACY TODAY | January/February 2016