Personalized learning means that the individual learner's environments, curriculum and teaching approaches need to be adapted to his/her potential and expectations. As the video as shown, new technologies contribute to the personalization process by providing solutions that allow flexible paths, environments and tools to be managed. It sounds a very promising model, but let's see its pros and cons.

First of all, let's define what is personalized learning. This term must be distinguished from differentiated learning because within the personalized learning model the "what", "when" and "how" to learn depend on the student herself/himself and not on the teacher or institution. The phrase often used to describe personalized learning - "any time, any place or any place" - does not necessarily mean an unlimited choice because the learners have goals to achieve. However, students may choose to learn in the way they prefer following their learning styles and attitudes. Moreover, sometimes personalized learning is improperly used as a synonym of individualized learning, but the two terms have two distinct pedagogical implications. Individualized learning refers to the teaching strategies that aim to ensure same learning objectives for every students, but at different times and modes depending on the learners' cognitive styles; the teacher (or computer) manages and chooses the best solution for learners. See the chart below for a clear explanation among these three models.

Second of all, let's define its prerogatives. Personalized learning intends to enhance the learners’ cognitive potential, their biography, intelligence, sensitivity and skills (including emotional ones) that characterize each person as a person. The learning outcomes and objectives will therefore be different for each student, and it will not be possible to establish them from the beginning of the learning. Learners, guided by teachers, are active co-designers of their learning experience and path. 

New technologies can be valuable tools for personalized learning because they allow learners to access information independently, provide communication tools enabling dialogue and debate, support assessment tools with adaptive and analytic features, as well as publishing tools for learning outcomes visualization.  M. Kalantizis and B. Cole (2015) provide promising outcomes for approches such as personlized learning interated within an e-learning environment.

Such a learning ecology is one that harnesses learner identities, deepens their sense of engagement, and increases their motivation to devote time to task and engage with others in their knowledge community.

However, personalized learning is not the exclusive prerogative e-learning environments. The infographic below gives a round picture of a personalized learning environment in a face-to-face classroom.

Finally, I would like to conclude opening a debate. I see limitations of this educational model in the field of language learning/teaching where most of our time in class is devoted to group work (discussion/debates, information/opinion gap activities and inductive grammar analysis). To prepare students for group work I have to time and scaffold activities toward the collaborative tasks. It seems to me that very little could be left to personalized learning expect for the end of unit/term projects or for the more advanced language courses. I created portfolios and end of the term personalized/group projects, but I have a hard time to conceive and entire curriculum based on personalized learning in language learning/teaching at the elementary and intermediate levels. Do you have any suggestions?

• http://www.personalizelearning.com/p/home.html
• Charles Leadbeater, (2005) The Shape of Things to Come: Personalised learning through collaboration
• M. Kalantizis and B. Cole, (2015) Learning and New Media, in The SAGE Handbook of Learning, SAGE Publications Ltd