Educational Initiatives
What is Personalized Education?
Exploring the concept of Personalized Education or Personalized Learning
Early Misconceptions
I remember early in my career (nearly 30 years ago) when the term ‘personalized education’ (or ‘personalized learning’) was being bandied around the teacher table at lunch. Being new to the profession, I stayed quiet, hoping to learn what this might mean for me and my classroom.
Some colleagues discussed how personalized education meant that teachers would have to write detailed plans, personalized education plans (PEP) — similar to an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), for every student. As a new teacher, this notion was scary.
As a first-year teacher, I struggled to juggle the lesson planning, grading, and ‘other duties as assigned,’
I typically taught 80 students a day. How was I to write and follow 80 plans? The perfectionist in me panicked a bit.
Other colleagues mentioned how students would have individual learning paths, a prescriptive program just for them. This sounded extremely boring to me as a teacher.
How would students feel, knowing they were going to be following these paths in every classroom, all day? I…
