The subject of personalization deserves a preamble of sorts that recognizes what we’re beginning to understand about the art and science of learning and development:

Learning begins with the individual learner and their journey; each learner brings their unique history and context to each experience;
Learning is frequently motivated by relationship and activated in community;
Learning occurs most fully when it engages all of a student’s senses, emotions and intentions; and
Learners bring unique interests, motivations and ways of learning.

It is easy to think of personalization simply as differentiated instruction but a full commitment to supporting individual learning journeys has many dimensions. We identified 15:

1. Tasks: Providing voice and choice in learning tasks including assignments, projects and maker experiences. The challenge is accommodation without a loss of rigor (e.g. skip the 10 page paper and make a poster).

2. Culture: A place where human dignity is respected, where learners have voice and choice and a means of appeal.

3. Differentiation: Tailoring instruction to meet individual needs by adjusting the level of challenge, increasing the amount of support or making other accommodations to support learning.

4. Adaptive learning: Using adaptive assessment to quickly diagnose learning level and deliver calibrated units of learning, often leveraging gamification.

5. Pacing: Meeting students where they are, especially when they have different learning levels in different subjects, and supporting progress based on demonstrated mastery.

6. Electives: Providing an array of elective and world languages options in person and online.

7. Out of school learning: Facilitating local and global learning options including field trips, travel, after school and summer school programming.

8. Extracurricular activities: Providing a range of extra-curricular activities and emphasizing participation.

9. Work and service: Providing valuable and accessible work, civic and service-learning options.

10. Academic supports: Real-time monitoring of academic progress and providing support inside and outside the classroom environment.

11. Youth and family supports: Meeting specific needs that are a barrier to learning (food, shelter, transportation, safety, health).

12. Goal setting: The opportunity to set and reflect on academic goals in the context of an advisory relationship.

13. College and career planning: An advisory system that supports exploration of postsecondary work and learning options.

14. Demonstrations of learning: Providing options for how a student demonstrates progress on their learning journey including shaping a student led conference and curating a digital portfolio.

15. School choice: Access to unique learning models with interests (art), career themes (NAF), pedagogy (New Tech Network) or college credit (early college high schools).

via 15 Dimensions of Personalized Learning – Vander Ark on Innovation – Education Week

Help Teens Navigate Social Media

Social media feeds our primal desire for peer attention, said Prinstein. Likes, followers and retweets provide what feels like measurable data about one’s social status. “We are in a status-seeking crisis as a society. There are kids who feel that their experiences haven’t really happened until they have shared them and seen how many responses they get. It erodes our ability to make our own judgments in alignment with our values.”

As Prinstein said, “Every media outlet tells them, ‘Gain as many followers as you can!’ But every piece of data says that this will make them lonely, depressed and at risk for relationship problems. Social media is serving some of our social needs but not all of our social needs.”

Prinstein said that, based on his research, he would offer this advice to teens: “You know that momentary high you might get by making yourself seem higher in status by disparaging others? It might feel good in the short term, but it’s not only damaging to others, it is damaging to you in the long run. ”

Instead, he said, “Spend your time learning how to be empathic and forge genuine relationships. Connect with people. Become a better listener. Focus on developing good friendships and being likable — caring and connected with others.”

In the end, he said, “you may be better off if you are not the most popular teen in your school.”

via Being Popular: Why it Consumes Teens and Continues to Affect Adults | MindShift | KQED News

Ready or not, education is entering an age in which social learning is the new norm. Pure academics are giving way to increased opportunities for students to work together; teachers increasingly take on the role of co-learner and facilitator; listening, learning, and teaming are the new core skills. At the heart of this new skillfulness for everyone is the ability to forge deep connections lead to creative problem solving and positive pursuits. Taken all together, this makes empathy critical to schools. In fact, very soon we will need to invent a new taxonomy of learning that makes empathy the base of the learning pyramid.

via Why Empathy Holds the Key to Transforming 21st Century Learning | MindShift | KQED News

Consequently, key secondary school reform efforts need to emphasize learning activities involving metacognition, goal-setting, planning, working memory, reflection on one’s learning, and frequent opportunities to make responsible choices.

Findings from adolescent-brain research also suggest a number of things that educators should stop doing so much of at the middle school and high school levels. For example:• Classroom teaching that focuses largely on delivering content through lectures and textbooks fails to engage the emotional brain and leaves unchanged those prefrontal regions that are important in metacognition.

• Public posting of grades and test scores (a practice which in this data-driven world appears to be increasing) humiliates and shames students in front of their highly valued peers.

• Locking students into a set academic college-bound program of courses takes away their ability to make decisions about what most interests them (a process that integrates the limbic system’s motivational verve with the prefrontal cortex’s decisionmaking capacity).

• The elimination or cutback of physical education and/or recess in favor of more time for academics increases teenagers’ already stressed-out nervous systems.

via Neuroscience Should Inform School Policies – Education Week