Personalized Learning

Book Review: Tapping The Power of Personalized Learning

by James Rickabaugh

In the Introduction, James Rickabaugh states the purpose of Tapping The Power of Personalized Learning: “This book is about transforming the learning ecosystem we have inherited from our parents and grandparents to better prepare learners for their future.” (4)  For him, the classroom of the future will be one in which personalized learning is the norm. 

He defines personalized learning as instruction “…designed around individual learner readiness, strengths, needs, and interests.  Learners are active participants in setting goals, planning learning paths, tracking progress, and determining how learning will be demonstrated.” (6)  His vision of personalized learning “diverges” from traditional learning in several ways:

·        Students are empowered to share decision making with teachers

·        The foci are Individual learning goals and action plans;

·        Variations in how and at what pace students learn are honoured;

·        Collaborative learning is an important dimension;

·        Technology is leveraged – that is, has a supporting role;

·         It accommodates many learning approaches; and,

·        Its ultimate goal is learner autonomy.

Some of the ways that technology is leveraged to support personalized learning include:

·        Providing a means for “immediate, specific, objective feedback on learning” (9);

·        Motivating students by providing access to a rich variety of content;

·        Capturing data and learning artifacts that track student learning;

·        Enabling student self-reflection on learning;

·        Enabling student collaboration with others; and,

·        Broadening the boundaries for learning beyond the classroom.

In Chapter 1, Rickabaugh examines some “misguided” key practices of the traditional school system and the assumptions underlying them. (19) The first such assumption is that all students learn at the same rate, which has led to the practice of grouping students by age.  Instead, the pace of learning should be determined by individual learner readiness.  Another such practice is to use the same instructional approaches for all learners, based on the assumption that learner aptitude can be determined by students’ ability to learn from these approaches.  In fact, students learn in different ways.  A third practice is waiting to provide a learner with remediation until the learner has repeatedly failed.  It is based on the assumption that “Failure is inevitable” for some learners, so teachers should just accept a certain number of failures. (19)  Lastly, there is the practice of encouraging students to learn via extrinsic rewards and sanctions. The assumption behind this practice is that ‘carrots and sticks’ provide sufficient motivation for students to learn.  Instead, intrinsic factors such as autonomy in learning and purpose will better motivate students to learn.

Chapter 2 provides a description of the author’s Honeycomb Model for personalized learning.   It places the learner at the centre and features 3 core components:

·        Learner profiles – which are co-created by learners and educators and have 4 dimensions: demographic data (such as potential barriers to learning), academic status, learner skill sets, and potential learning drivers (such as the learner’s interests and career plans).

·        Proficiency-Based Progress – “Student progress toward the standards is based on growing mastery, not seat time.” (39)

·        Customized Learning Paths – Learners co-design their learning goals, select learning opportunities and resources, identify progress markers, and determine how their learning will be demonstrated in partnership with educators.

Surrounding the 3 core components is a ring of 10 learning and teaching strategies.  Learner voice and choice are 2 of these strategies that are particularly important in that “…every time a learner has the opportunity to make a choice, he or she creates a unique pathway.” (43)  Cultural responsiveness is also important.  Learners’ cultural traditions should be valued, and they should be encouraged to draw on these traditions in order to personalize their learning.  Formative assessments are critical.  Indeed, “There should be no doubt as to the outcomes of summative assessments if learners and teachers have used formative assessment to inform learning.” (44)  Lastly, and most importantly, there should be progression toward deeper learning.

The Honeycomb Model for Personalized Learning

Moving further out in the Honeycomb Model are aspects of relationships and roles.  Elements in this ring include learners as co-designers of learning, educator collaboration, and family and community engagement.  In the outer ring are structure and policy factors such as flexible time, pace, and learning spaces as well as an integrated data management system that allows teachers “ …to collect, analyze, and organize data easily and quickly.” (55)

Chapter 3 outlines 12 key factors of personalized learning – from the students’ perspective.  Although some of these elements (ie. learner choice/voice and flexible pacing and learning spaces) are repeats from the previous chapter, others are worthy of the author’s consideration.  For example, purposeful learning is a critical aspect, as a student’s “commitment and learning momentum” are contingent on the student clearly understanding the purpose. (64)  Another key component from the standpoint of students is ownership of learning.  The author notes that students who experience ownership of their learning “…are easy to spot even in a brief conversation… [as they] tend to talk in the first person …they talk about ‘my’ goals and ‘my’ work rather than ‘the teacher’s assignment’.” (66)  Then there are the factors of learners as resources and as collaborators.  From the student’s point of view, personalized learning takes an “inside out approach” that makes students “active agents” not only in the designing of their own learning but as well in the constructing of other students’ learning. (69)  

Five key instructional shifts in instructional practices associated with personalized learning are presented in Chapter 4.  The first shift is from a focus on a uniformed delivery of curriculum to a focus on individualized development of competencies by students.  Key questions teachers should ask are How do I ensure balance between what students are ready to learn and the standards? and Are the competencies clear and compelling?  With respect to the latter question, competencies should be “presented in student-friendly language”. (83) 

Shift 2 is from learning on demand to instruction on demand – that is, from expecting all students to learn in an appointed time/place to beginning “…where students currently are and work from there.” (84)  Shift 3 is from learning driven by assumptions and vague reasons to learning driven by clear purpose.  Teachers should ask: How can I convey purpose of learning in ways that make sense to students? and What will I do if I can’t convince students of the purpose or value of the learning?  States the author, “Teachers need to help students understand how what they’re asked to learn will make their lives better today rather than far in the future.” (86)  Moving from a focus on content accumulation to building learning capacity is Shift 4.  The final shift is from ensuring access to learning opportunities to ensuring success.   Key questions teachers can ask are How will I know when learners are struggling so that I can intervene early? and What intervention strategies and learning supports will I employ when learners encounter barriers to learning?

The key point Rickabaugh makes in Chapter 5, “Building Educator Capacity: Personal Professional Development”, is as follows: “If we want educators to value personalized learning experiences for students, they must experience the benefits of it in their own learning.” (99)  By experiencing personalized learning, educators will build their capacity to support both their students and their colleagues in individualized learning.  The essential elements of an individual professional learning profile include:

• Self-assessments of current skills
• Learning goals
• An action research project
• A portfolio or collection of evidence of learning and progression toward goals
• Reflections on professional learning experiences

Flexible Learning Spaces St. Cecilia

In the final chapter, the author offers some strategies for overcoming the challenge of scaling.  He begins the chapter by noting that efforts at scaling or spreading innovations in education often fail because they “…depend excessively on a single person or small group of people to implement and sustain the work.” (111)  A better way to accomplish scaling is to take a network approach with many people, at various entry points, involved in spreading the innovation.  Another strategy involves strategic planning around scaling from the onset of the process of innovation.  Lastly, the author provides several suggestions for dealing with saboteurs – those who resist change. Advice he gives is to listen closely and respectfully to them, provide them with key information related to the innovation, and engage them in private in order to limit their impact on others.