…
On 06/23/2010,
in 21st century, education, education reform, education technology, game-changing environment, K-12 related, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
Envisioning a World of Learning — from blog.futureofed.org by Katherine Prince
The launch of KnowledgeWorks’ new website has provided us with an occasion to articulate more precisely what we mean when we say that we want to transform education in the US from a world of schooling to a world of learning. Here’s an extract from it describing what we envision:
A world of learning
The vision emerging from our study of the future doesn’t much resemble the industrial-era world of schooling most of us know. Instead, we foresee a world of learning where:
- Education centers on the needs of learners, not those of institutions. Teaching is tailored to an individual student’s needs and abilities.
- Learners take charge of their education. Students and families seek out information and experiences from an array of sources rather than depending on schools to direct their learning.
- Children gain 21st-century knowledge and skills – how to make decisions, solve problems and create solutions – through hands-on experiences that cross subject areas and are connected to the real world.
- Success is judged through a wide array of measures that account for different learning styles and assess capabilities and progress, not simply acquisition of knowledge.
- All learners have easy access to technology and other tools that open doors to information and knowledge.
- Learners are supported in all parts of their lives, with physical, emotional and social health being nurtured alongside intellectual growth.
- Teachers are more than content specialists. The teaching profession diversifies to include such roles as learning coaches, classroom coordinators, cognitive specialists, resource managers and community liaisons.
- Learning isn’t limited to a physical place or time of day, but is mobile and constant, with wireless technologies allowing learning anywhere and anytime.
On 06/07/2010,
in educational games / serious games, interaction design, K-12 related, personalized/customized learning, social learning / networks,
by Daniel Christian
Like Facebook, but for learning — from eSchoolNews.com by Laura Devaney
Combining social networking with studying, Grockit encourages academic success through peer interaction
Aiming to engage students who are multitasking with different forms of technology, companies are creating collaborative learning spaces online where students can help one another solve homework problems and study—all while building important 21st-century skills.
One such social-networking study site is Grockit, which currently offers test-prep services and is expanding its focus to include math and English for students in grades 8-12, with history and science soon to follow. Grockit has opened enrollment for a free Summer Enrichment Academy, which is designed to keep students from falling behind during summer vacation as they participate in collaborative group study forums online.
On 05/20/2010,
in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, engagement / engaging students, higher education, K-12 related, personalized/customized learning, professional development, training / L&D,
by Daniel Christian
On 05/17/2010,
in future of higher education, game-changing environment, online learning, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
16th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning
November 3-5, 2010 | The Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center
The Power of Online Learning: Stimulating New Possibilities
Peter Smith, Ed.D.
Colleges for the 21st Century: the New Ecology of Learning
Emerging information technology and Web 2.0 have permanently changed the possibilities and potential of higher education. With the decline of content as the critical determinant of quality, there are three over-arching quality indicators that support “merit for the many”: personalization, customization, and mobility.
Dr. Peter Smith will address these quality indicators in his keynote address. In the talent-friendly College for the 21st Century (C21C), he argues, services will be organized around the needs of the learner, not the habits of the institution (emphasis DSC). Sharing common characteristics, C21Cs will tap into a new ecology of learning that supports personalized and customized learning around the world. Their purposes will include recognizing, creating and then validating merit in each learner and making it portable.
On 05/12/2010,
in K-12 related, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
Explore Our Newest Schools That Work: Differentiated Instruction Wins in South Carolina — from Edutopia
 |
Discover Forest Lake Elementary School Find out how technology helps tailor the learning process. |
 |
Teacher Development This elementary school trains and supports its staff to blaze a new digital trail. |
 |
Ten Tips for Personalized Learning The educators of Forest Lake Elementary deploy a powerful array of digital-technology tools. Discover what your school can learn. |
On 05/05/2010,
in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, intelligent tutoring, personalized/customized learning, ubiquitous learning, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
On 05/03/2010,
in engagement / engaging students, innovation, K-12 related, personalized/customized learning, virtual tutoring,
by Daniel Christian
Adaptive learning: Putting an idea into practice at the School of One — from EducationNext.org by Paul E. Peterson
Time magazine touted “the School of One” as one of the 50 top innovations of 2009—the only educational innovation to be given that honor. As described in Time, “each day, students in the School of One are given a unique lesson plan — a ‘daily playlist’— tailored to their learning style and rate of progress that includes a mix of virtual tutoring, in-class instruction and educational video games (emphasis DSC).” I stopped by a New York City middle school using the School of One last week to see how new technologies that help teachers adapt to each student’s learning level actually work in practice.
Educators, like designers, can benefit from identifying the student price point, the material the student is now ready and prepared to learn. With adaptive testing technologies now available, schools can quickly and efficiently obtain weekly, perhaps daily, information on what a student knows. Teaching can zero in on the price point, so the student is not given something that is either too advanced or too repetitive of what he or she already knows.
…
School of One takes this idea one step further by also trying to identify student interests and learning styles as well. If a boy is a Little Leaguer; then baseball statistics may be the best way to teach math. If a girl plays volleyball, the examples can be modified accordingly.
On 04/28/2010,
in engagement / engaging students, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
On 04/07/2010,
in higher education, K-12 related, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
Personalizing learning – the important role of technology — from OpenEducation.net by Thomas
New Viewpoint – Personalizing Learning
Clearly, that mindset has changed. With learning styles now a part of the educational landscape today’s teacher is expected to adjust to the varied preferences of students so as to maximize the learning potential of each individual in the classroom.
Such an approach has been characterized by the global term: personalizing the learning experience. The concept is considered as critical to the next generation of teachers as it is for the next generation of students.
Personalizing learning involves differentiating the curricula, including expectations and timelines, and utilizing various instructional approaches so as to best meet the needs of each individual. Essentially, students should be able to do varying assignments and have the freedom to work at a pace that is conducive to their abilities and skill set.
(Inserted comment here from DSC — Can you imagine how a teacher or professor is supposed to do/manage this for 20-25+ students without the use of technology — and with that number of students in the classroom about to go up substantially?)
Not too surprisingly, individual elements of a personalized learning environment are well known to current educators. The challenge is not so much what those elements consist of but how to piece the elements together to form a cohesive strategy.
Most importantly, personalizing learning for the current generation of learners demands specific technologies. Educators need to understand that children are growing up in a media-rich environment.
Schools must deliver a product that engages students and generates within them the desire to learn. Today’s curricula must involve liberal uses of technology whenever it is relevant to the task at hand.
But technology also plays a more important role in the personalization process. Ultimately it is the conduit for teachers to move to a learning approach that features materials developed for each individual student.
Relevant graphic below from DSC:
On 04/01/2010,
in learning preferences, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
Is ‘The School of One’ the future of schooling? — from dangerouslyirrelevant.org
On 03/08/2010,
in K-12 related, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
What Is Personalized Learning? –– from theAplus.org
Personalized Learning is a unique, blended classroom-based and nonclassroom-based public educational model that is tailored to the needs and interests of each individual student. Personalized Learning is a 21st century, “on the leading edge” approach to public education that honors and recognizes the unique gifts, skills, passions, and attributes of each child. Personalized Learning is dedicated to developing individualized learning programs for each child whose intent is to engage each child in the learning process in the most productive and meaningful way to optimize each child’s learning potential and success.
The key attributes that comprise the Personalized Learning model are based upon a solid foundation of the latest educational research findings as to how students learn most successfully, including a strong emphasis on parental involvement, smaller class sizes, more one-on-one teacher and student interaction, attention to differences in learning styles, student-driven participation in developing the learning process, technology access, varied learning environments, teacher and parent development programs, and choices in curriculum programs. No other educational model offered in today’s public education system has integrated these proven educational research results in such an in-depth and comprehensive manner to serve the diverse needs of today’s public education students.
From DSC:
Looking at the above chart, I’m reminded of the need for each of us to develop our own learning ecosystem, as there are so many choices/approaches/tools/methods out there; however there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. There is no silver bullet for everyone to achieve their optimal amount of learning.
On 03/03/2010,
in digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, personalized/customized learning, virtual field trips,
by Daniel Christian
- Intuitive user interface.
- Automatically synchronizes your images to your audio recording.
- Make .m4v movies of your images and narrations from your iPhone or iPod Touch.
- Record up to 60 minutes per session!
- Choose from good, better or best quality levels for audio.
- Easy image selection and editing.
- Give images unique names and descriptions that can optionally be shown during recording.
- Image names become chapter markers in exported recordings.
- Pause while recording.
- Build slide shows with photos from photo albums, camera roll or built in camera.
- Quickly jump to any image during a recording using the pop-up image chooser.
- Recordings processed right on your phone, no 3rd party service required!
- Transfer movies to your computer via WiFi web sharing (requires WiFi connection).
- Upload movies to YouTube.
- Chose to make your YouTube movies private.
- Share your movie’s YouTube link via email.
- Class field trip
- New baby
- Lecture recording
- Creating mini-presentations on the road
- Out with friends
- Travel Logs
- Conference notes
- Honeymoon
- Museum tours
- Create Audio books
- Lab notes
- Insurance claims
- Accident documentation
- Medical diagnosis / dictation
- Land surveys
- Real estate tours
- Home shopping
- New town experiences
- Staff introductions
- Photo tours
- Language instruction
- Helping boyfriend study names/faces before meeting girlfriend’s family.
Original resource from:
Creating Digital Storybooks on the Fly with Sonic Pics — Living in the 4th Screen