Differentiated learning has been around for a while but personalized learning is still a relatively new concept. What is it? How this might change the roles of the teacher? How that impacts assessment? And what vital resources students might need to become a successful learner?

Personalized learning is an approach to teaching and learning that empowers students to take responsibility of their own learning from finding what interest them, planning their own learning, committing to an achievement by follow the path of their own learning goals. At a glance, it looks similar to differentiated learning. However, the difference is that in personalized learning, the students are at the center of learning and make all kinds of decision about their own learning.

This has an immense impact in the teacher’s roles in the classroom, which makes sense, because it is no longer a good practice for the teacher to teach to the middle of the classroom and leave students on the left and right side of the spectrum behind. Teachers will still be needed but their role will be mainly to point students to the right direction to help them achieve their learning goals or navigate back to their own learning path, for example. There will be less teaching, but more facilitating, guiding, consulting, design effective assessment, monitoring social progress, and nurturing metacognitive development.

In a personalized learning classroom, it is also possible to continue traditional assessment but it will not be easy. Formative assessment will still be vital to student’s learning and this can be accomplished through peer review, self-reflection, and/or teacher’s comments based on a holistic rubric that focuses on conceptual learning.

The range of resources that students might need in order to become successful learners in a personalized learning classroom is wide.

1. Physical classroom- The design of this learning space needs to be multifunctional to enable students to be learning in different hubs or alone. Learning is social, so the space must reflect that. It is no longer necessary to be within the four-wall space. However, it needs to be indusive to learning.
2. Technology- This is a vital part for learning as well as assessment. Students will need access to online contents or resources that meet their academic needs. These resources can be a video clips, online articles, university course, or a forum. The students also need to have access to online formative assessment that will give them an immediate feedbacks on how they perform. This can be a laptop, tablet, or a mobile device.
3. The teacher- The teacher is still a vital part of the classroom as a facilitator and learning coach to students in the classroom.

Personalized learning empowers students to take learning personally and be accountable for their own academic progress.

Resources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWnSt7LQxI0

http://edglossary.org/personalized-learning/

http://www.thecreativeeducator.com/2012/articles/Creative_Personalized_Learning

http://www.extremenetworks.com/formative-assessments-enable-personalized-learning-in-education/

https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=xSIYBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT113&lpg=PT113&dq=assessment+in+personalized+classroom&source=bl&ots=LGCh6SeD6q&sig=4WPvvLcsS3IMtFtU6k84VnZZ-H0&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=assessment%20in%20personalized%20classroom&f=false