Getting Personal
Teachers, Technology, and Tailored Learning
June 18, 2014
Faced with tougher state standards and new research about how children learn, more schools and school districts have plunged into variants of personalized learning, or approaches to instruction that seek to better cater to students' individual learning needs. This special report explores that growing interest in personalized learning, looking at how related instructional initiatives (many of which are costly and technologically intensive) are playing out in the classroom and what solutions and challenges they pose for teachers and schools.
- Education Any Way You Want It: A Video Collection on Personalized LearningIn these videos from our editorial partners at Teaching Channel, teachers and students discuss personalized learning and the instructional approaches that ground it.
Teaching Profession Amid Skepticism, Blended-Learning Models Aim to Transform Teachers' WorkSome advocates say that digitally oriented instructional arrangements can improve not only student learning but teachers' working conditions and job satisfaction as well.Ed-Tech Policy Award-Winning Educator Taps Technology to Layer InstructionEnglish teacher Diana Neebe helped create her school's 1-to-1 iPad curriculum. Along the way, she reconceptualized English class.
Education Funding Before Buying Technology, Asking 'Why?'Districts might believe that personalized learning follows directly from major technology purchases, but the reality tends to show otherwise.
Special Education Q&A Learning by Universal DesignNeuropsychologist David H. Rose, a principal architect of Universal Design for Learning, says classrooms need a richer mix of resources and more emotion.
Education Funding Betting Big on Personalized LearningIn 2012, the Iredell-Statesville district in North Carolina won a $20 million grant to pursue a personalized-learning initiative. Now, the district's leaders want to make sure they get it right.Professional Development Opinion Addressing Equity by Personalizing School CulturesA new book argues that effective school-wide implementation and use of personalized learning is essential to the pursuit of greater educational equity.Classroom Technology Opinion How I Blended My Math ClassSilvestre Arcos, an award-winning math teacher at KIPP: Washington Heights Middle School, says that bringing technology into his classroom has boosted engagement and given him more flexibility to address students' learning needs.Teaching Profession Opinion Making Grading Personal, and More EnjoyableThe path to better grading lies in formative assessment and student portfolios, teacher Marie-Levey Pabst writes.
