Personalized Learning

What is it and why is it so popular?!

Perhaps the most popular trend in both the Learning and Development Industry and among schools is the adoption of personalized learning. This is due to the fact that “one-size-fits-all” training solutions have largely fallen short of their desired learning objectives, whether they be targeted towards students or corporate learners.

Many people have been encouraged in recent years with published research on the topic of Individualized Learning, such as the 2015 RAND Study, which found strong evidence to suggest a correlation between schools using a tailored approach and their students progress.

“This report examines achievement in 62 public charter and district schools that are pursuing a variety of personalized learning practices and examines implementation details in 32 of those schools. Researchers obtained achievement data for personalized learning students and a matched comparison group of students attending other schools serving similar populations.

The achievement findings indicate that compared to peers, students in schools using personalized learning practices are making greater progress over the course of two school years, and that those students who started out behind are catching up to perform at or above national averages. The study finds that teachers at most schools were using data to understand student progress and make instructional decisions, all schools offered time for individual academic support, and the use of technology for personalization was widespread.”

Personal behavior, learning style, and individual interests are just a few of the ways that institutions have categorized students in order to provide a more tailored learning experience uniquely fitted to each person. As many schools have been growing their use of individualized learning so have private businesses as they seek to emulate these gains in the personal development of their own employees!

Persona Global has long been a proponent of this approach. Our flagship workshop, Persuasive Communicator pre-assesses attendees to determine their unique behavioral style or social style. Once the individual is assessed into one of four separate styles, or a combination of one or more styles, we can more accurately tailor the overall workshop and approach we use towards them. The following workshop instruction and guidance given to the individual after the assessment, has been found to be much more personalized and applicable to their real-life work environment, resulting in better results.

We have found this approach allows for a better game plan and overall understanding than one would receive in a “one-size-fits-all” seminar.

The 4-Style Behavioral Matrix Utilized by Persona Global