Why Contemporary Education is Finding ways to Embrace Personalized Learning
Often when I speak at conferences about individualized, personalized or differentiated learning it is clear that the people in the room have very different ideas of what those terms mean. Teachers, parents and students have a hard time biting into a what a day would look like learning in a personalized learning community. To help place our community on the same page, in this blog post why we have embraced personalized learning.
Differentiated learning
Within the context of education, differentiation is a type of learning where instruction is tailored to meet the learning needs, preferences and goals of individual students. This means that students within the ‘class’ or grade share overarching academic goals or objectives, however the teacher can tailor the resources and teaching methods to each child’s learning.
Each learner has the same destination, but each may take a different path.
Individualized learning
Instruction calibrated to meet the unique pace of various students is known as individualized learning. If differentiation is the “how” then individualization is the “when.” The academic goals, in this case, remain the same for a group of students, but individual students can progress through the curriculum at different speeds, based on their own particular learning needs.
Each learner has the same destination, but may reach it at different times in the year, use a car to go faster, walk or find a new path.
Personalized learning
Personalized learning is completely tailored to the interests, preferences, needs, diversity and challenges of each learner. Academic goals, curriculum and content as well as method and pace all vary in a personalized learning environment.
Students become the creators and owners of their learning journey. Instead of education being something that happens to the learner, it is something that occurs as a result of a collaboration between a facilitator (teacher) and the student to identify what the student interests are, the skills needed and end goal will be.
Each learner has a different destination, different path, and different locomotion. Where they end up is less important than how they get there.
Why Personalization Matters
Contemporary classrooms are teeming with students of varying interests, backgrounds, abilities and learning needs. Unisus Senior school embodies a truly international first cohort from diverse locations such as Vietnam, Kenya, China, Mexico, Brazil and Canada. To engage these students, learning must be every bit as diverse as they are.
Personalization is a teaching and learning process that addresses the strengths and needs of individual learners. By carefully monitoring student progress, personalization ensures that every learner’s academic, emotional, and physical needs are understood and accommodated.
Personalized classrooms allow for high levels of interaction, discourse, and real-world application. Teachers use cooperative learning, technology, and project-based learning to encourage peer feedback and authentic investigation and research.
What Personalization Looks Like in Practice
At Unisus, we are designing our program for approval by the IB. The IB MYP and DP programmes will be augmented by three additional pillars; outdoor education, entrepreneurship and technological innovation. We aim to create a network of industry professionals, students, schools, and parents, to foster an ecosystem of learning that bridges the classroom and the real world.
At Unisus learning is simply different. Students will still learn under the framework of the IB programmes, but via a mix of play, technologies like AR, VR, apps, process drama, entrepreneurship, internships, outdoor pursuits and agile practices we are changing the way young adults learn.
Imagine a day in which teens could have a late start, then spend the morning with teachers designing learning and finding partners with industry leaders to engage in experiences, training programs, and workshops that will expose them to the knowledge and applicable future skills they will need. Imagine leveraging doctors, researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, media, and local organizations and institutions to uncover a new world of options and paths. Later in the day, imagine them going home to a cozy boarding room with not only a teacher on-site to help them study through personalized coaching but also places to chill out like in our future multiplayer gaming room. Imagine them being encouraged to use social media to network with other students around the globe. Imagine developing the confidence to share their ideas and creations on the TEDx stage. Imagine them becoming leaders by sharing life-changing experiences with friends while kayaking, snowboarding, paddleboarding and rock climbing.
At Unisus we are looking for students who want to be active participants in decisions about their learning. We want students who are seekers of new ideas, new products, new solutions. We want students who are excited by life but tired of the status quo in education. We want to shake it up- all while achieving the high academic standards needed for them to enter the best universities in the world.
