Personalizing learning is an instructional approach that empowers students to build ownership of their learning. Student-centered design, nurturing learning, equity-focused practices, and data culture are all essential components of this work.
Personalized learning moves away from a teacher-directed model towards one that is centered around the individual needs and strengths of every student. Traditional classroom approaches too often put the important intellectual work primarily on the teacher. A student-centered approach allows the teacher to design and facilitate learning experiences that empower every student. This allows instruction to be targeted, helping to accelerate student learning.
Join Courtney Flanders and Cristina Strunk, our Education Elements experts in student-centered design, in a conversation about personalized learning and a student-centered approach.
Personalized learning focuses on the needs of students, and that includes their social and emotional needs. Nurturing learning environments include three foundational elements: self awareness, social awareness, and strong relationships. There are three of the five elements of CASEL’s SEL framework. Each of these elements are equally important for students and educators. For example, self awareness allows students to reflect and set goals and it allows educators to better understand how to leverage their strengths in the classroom when shifting towards a more personalized approach to learning.
Katie Camp and Education Elements SEL expert, Maryell Hernández, have a conversation about personalized learning and nurturing learning environments.
Providing every student with the support they need to be successful with grade-level content turns equity into a powerful purpose for personalizing learning. That purpose empowers the instructional tactics and classroom models teachers use to more personalize learning for students. For example, equity as a purpose calls on educators to distribute their time based on student need. Small group instruction becomes more than a tactic; it is the way teachers equitably distribute their time, by providing more individual support to the students who need it the most.
Noah Dougherty and Education Elements equity expert, Josue Falaise, have a conversation about personalized learning and equity.
Personalized learning requires data to meet the individual needs of students and facilitate systems-level change. Data empowers teachers to be responsive to the needs of students, allowing them to to design learning experiences based on the unique characteristics of their classroom. Data is an important tool throughout our methodology, allowing school leaders to celebrate successes and plan around areas of growth and increased focus.
Rani Banjarian and Education Elements data expert, Shelby McIntosh, have a conversation about personalized learning and data.
