Jcombs 7740 Personalized Learning

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Personalized Learning
Jeremy Combs
Piedmont College
EDUC 7740: Internship
March 28, 2021

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Personalized Learning
Personalized learning can be defined as, “Tailoring learning for each student’s
strengths, needs and interests–including enabling student voice and choice in what,
how, when and where they learn–to provide flexibility and supports to ensure mastery of
the highest standards possible (Slocum et al. 2020).” With advances in technology,
personalized learning has become more and more feasible as a way of individualizing
lessons for students, in order to reach them exactly where they are and optimize their
learning. Key elements of personalized learning are student responsibility in their
learning or for students to be able to work at their own pace (Kamenetz, 2018). Also,
there should be differentiation based on individual student’s needs, instructional
interventions and supports, flexible pacing, personalized learning plans, and frequent
feedback from instructors or peers (Slocum et al. 2020).
As important as it is to have an overall definition as to what personalized learning
is, it is equally important to define what it is not. First, technology is not necessarily a
key ingredient to personalized learning. First and foremost, the teacher is critical in
providing small or whole group instruction as appropriate. Scaffolding and creating
opportunities for students to collaborate are essential components of the classroom
teacher. Second, is the idea of students doing most of their work independently.
Students do not necessarily work by themselves all the time, but instead they become
agents of their own learning and identify not only different ways they learn, but also who
they should learn from. Finally, students do not necessarily move ahead at their own
pace. Although, learning at their own pace is important, what is more important is that
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their learning is based on their individual passions and their learning is connected as
such (Miller, 2019).
The students I will be working with throughout the course of this internship
project are virtual students. Only four of the students are identified and served as gifted
learners, however the rest of the students in the course are motivated and high
achieving learners. By personalizing instruction over the course of the next several
units, I will be able to more effectively meet students where they are academically and
provide extension work that is appropriately meaningful and challenging.
One of the fundamental elements of personalized learning is being able to learn
from others. In a virtual classroom environment, this can be difficult, I will be looking for
unique opportunities over the course of this project to find ways to get students to
collaborate with one another in a virtual setting. Technology is also a critical component
of personalized learning. Being a virtual class, I have always relied heavily on
technology in terms of both instruction and for reinforcement and practice (Howton,
2019).
Perhaps the most important element of personalized learning is allowing student
choice. I will be creating mini-lessons and allowing students to choose what level they
feel comfortable working at, along with choice in what they produce to demonstrate
understanding and mastery of the standards. When it comes to creating content, I will
be using my iPhone camera to video tape the actual lessons. I will also be using
Forsyth County School’s ItsLearning platform to post daily lessons and assignments.
The unit will consist of multiple formative assessments in the form of Google quizzes,
Kahoot! and Quizizz activities, and one on one meetings with students in order to
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provide immediate feedback as we progress through the unit (Howton, 2019). Also,
Goal setting and self-reflection will be an important aspect of personalized learning that
will be a part of the lesson planning in this course moving forward (Vargo, 2017).
As we progress into our next unit on Geometry, my goal is to institute a
personalized learning plan for this class. First, they will see what standards and skills
they are responsible for learning over the course of the unit. Following a short mini
lesson each day, students will be able to choose a level based on their self-efficacy of
the topic. The levels will be beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Once students
have chosen the level, they are comfortable with, they will complete an assignment at
that difficulty level. Following feedback from that assignment, they will progress to the
next level of difficulty and complete an assignment from that level. They will be able to
progress through the unit at their own pace and complete formative and summative
assessment at any time.
During the Geometry unit, I will be acting as a facilitator. I will provide the actual
lessons themselves and practice work. I will also be providing feedback for students as
they progress through the unit. Since the course is virtual, each student will be able to
proceed through the unit at their own level and at their own pace.
References
Howton, R. (2019, September 28). Turn your classroom into a personalized learning
environment. ISTE. https://www.iste.org/explore/Personalized-learning/Turn-your-
classroom-into-a-personalized-learning-environment.
Kamenetz, A., Feinberg, R., & Mason, K. C. (2018, November 16). The Future Of Learning?
Well, It's Personal. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/16/657895964/the-future-of-
learning-well-it-s-personal.
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Miller, A. (2019, February 20). 3 Myths of Personalized Learning. Edutopia.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-myths-personalized-learning.
Slocum, N., Levine, E., & Lape, T. (2020, February 19). What is Personalized Learning? Aurora
Institute. https://aurora-institute.org/blog/what-is-personalized-learning/.
Vargo, J. (2017, November 1). Six Examples of What Personalized Learning Looks Like.
Education Elements - Your Personalized Learning. https://www.edelements.com/blog/six-
examples-of-what-personalized-learning-looks-like.

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EDUC 7740: Internship

March 28, 2021

learning. Key elements of personalized learning are student responsibility in their

there should be differentiation based on individual student’s needs, instructional

feedback from instructors or peers (Slocum et al. 2020).

As important as it is to have an overall definition as to what personalized learning

providing small or whole group instruction as appropriate. Scaffolding and creating

opportunities for students to collaborate are essential components of the classroom

such (Miller, 2019).

provide extension work that is appropriately meaningful and challenging.

One of the fundamental elements of personalized learning is being able to learn

of personalized learning. Being a virtual class, I have always relied heavily on

Perhaps the most important element of personalized learning is allowing student

As we progress into our next unit on Geometry, my goal is to institute a

assessment at any time.

Miller, A. (2019, February 20). 3 Myths of Personalized Learning. Edutopia.

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