Personalized Learning 2016
The Next Generation
October 19, 2016
The push to design teaching and learning around students’ distinctive academic needs, and even their personal interests, is no longer only happening in pockets of experimentation around the country. This trend has now entered the K-12 mainstream and its expansion is quickening. But the challenges ahead for the next generation of personalized learning initiatives are significant. The research evidence to support comprehensive personalized learning is thin, the approach requires big investments in educational technology, and educators must be committed to transforming how they teach for it to work.
- Ed-Tech Policy From the Editor: A Critical Look at the Evolution, and Future, of Personalized LearningPersonalized learning is not sweeping through schools, as some would have you believe. But the trend has now entered the K-12 mainstream, and its expansion is quickening.
Assessment Students Pinpoint Their Academic Needs in Georgia DistrictThe Henry County, Ga., school system refashioned its personalized learning strategy after determining the original plan was overly fixated on the use of technology.Classroom Technology Personalized Learning: What Does the Research Say?The U.S. Department of Education has given half a billion dollars to districts that embrace the trend, but little research exists on its impact.Classroom Technology Eighth Graders Use Web App to Identify Their Character StrengthsThe students said the results that the web app Happify generated for each of them confirmed some thoughts they had about themselves.
Student Well-Being Online Gaming Platform Aims to Teach Social and Emotional SkillsBut the idea that digital tools can benefit students’ social-emotional development is controversial, with critics claiming children are already spending too much time online.Classroom Technology RFPs Reveal District, State PrioritiesInterest in pursuing 'personalized learning'—however schools choose to define it—is evident in the language found in the requests for proposals and other solicitations put forward by K-12 systems around the country in recent years.Classroom Technology Numbers to WatchWe look at the proliferation of devices in U.S. classrooms that open the possibilities to personalization, and we give a snapshot of how one diverse school district is tracking its personalized learning initiatives.
Personalized Learning Checking Up on Personalized Learning PioneersThe trend to individualize education has evolved at a gradual pace, as shown by a look back at some stories from several years ago.
Personalized Learning Q&A Q&A: Lessons Learned From Next Generation Learning ChallengesThe deputy director of the NGLC talks about how personalized learning has evolved and what looms ahead for districts pursuing this approach.
Personalized Learning 'Red Flags' to Look for When Evaluating Personalized Learning ProductsEducators are asking tougher questions to sort the real personalized learning potential from the empty promises of some ed-tech products and services.Classroom Technology Data DiveThe evolution of personalized learning in recent years has led to a growing body of data from school systems that have had initiatives in place for at least a few years.
