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Mass Customisation And Personalisation Of Learning

Ramona J Pierson

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. (William Butler Yeats)
Education is at a turning point worldwide. Seeking ways to transform or to even revolutionise the system, due to its current ineffective status for so many children, has been fuel for local, national, and international debate. Most education systems were designed by our forebears during the industrial era to meet the needs of their time, which was to produce citizens prepared to work in mass production jobs. Education systems leveraged mass production techniques to educate both students and educators in the past. These techniques are still being used today even though the necessary skills in the workforce have changed, as have the needs of society. We have not done a good job of educating all of our students. Nor have we prepared them for the rapidly changing world that awaits them. In fact, we have no idea what the future will bring nor can we even imagine the skill sets that they will require. What we do know is that the status quo is unsustainable both morally and economically. As a result, we must fundamentally change our education systems so we can provide all of our students with the skills they will need to navigate in an uncertain world. The education system is under growing pressure to change in order to meet the demands of a changing world, which is resulting in a movement towards a student- centric learning system. This paradigm shift from a mass production system to a mass customised and personalised learning system has the potential to nurture individual human potential and encourage creativity in both students and teachers.

Our Students Are Different

If we watched students today complete their homework or conduct research, we would notice that they utilise a variety of means including but not limited to the internet, social interactions with domain experts, online tutors, and/or other students. Children have learned to learn differently today so when we hand them a paper textbook, it must feel like they stepped back in time, and they have! The material in paper textbooks is years out of date and represents a singular perspective. The reality of information is that it is growing and changing dynamically and that no one person or organisation is the ultimate authority on the subject. For instance, if one looks into a textbook about the government of Egypt, will that textbook have the relevant changes that have just occurred in that country? What if we could make sure that the information delivered to our students is accurate, current, and personalised to that students specific learning needs and individual learning pathway? Currently, in the United States there are several pilot projects across various innovation sites in New York, Indianapolis, Texas, and Colorado that are pushing to create personalised learning systems for students. Although unique in presentation and application, each model recognises that students may need a personalised learning pathway as they move through lessons, curricula, and textbooks. Although modality is often highlighted as the individualising factor for educational reform, content must also be linked to each student. Algorithms and comprehensive

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data individualise the experience for the student based on a personalised learning pathway. For instance, a student would log into a learning portal and receive a customised textbook and lessons, and would rotate through learning experiences that reflect the way in which he/she learns best. This learning experience might be very similar or very different from his/her peers. This is an exciting and realisable scenario. Technological advancements have exploded within the schools. Schools and districts have the capacity to personalise learning at scale. Computers, interactive whiteboards, tablets, mobile devices, as well as building out infrastructure and connecting data systems, will, once synchronised with other service providers, provide the foundation for scaling these personalised learning programs. The next step involves the refinement and development of essential components including mashable digital content, embedded assessments tightly coupled to the curriculum, and learning progressions

made dynamic by algorithms (AI) or mathematical engines. These algorithms integrated with learning progressions are what one would call the heart of the new system. This AI engine can dynamically program the learning progressions continually for each student, interpret and adjust to the cross subject area interaction (the effect the maths progressions have on humanities and so forth), and associate curriculum, content, and learning strategies based on this dynamic learning process. Imagine how powerful it would be for a student to have a customised textbook, sequencing of lessons, and embedded assessments that dynamically changed to ensure that he/she masters the material in the way that makes sense, and would result in obtaining nationally set benchmarks and learning outcomes. Additionally, incorporating learning theories from the cognitive sciences to support the individual differences in thinking and information processing is crucial, as are considerations regarding the interplay of emotions, intentions, and social issues associated

with the learning process. Thus, creating a balanced, personalised learning program requires integrating content that reflects many modalities of learning, which engages and inspires learning across many learning preferences. One project in particular is aggressively creating a learning ecosystem across multiple partners in order to bring many learning modalities, content resources, and types to ensure all learners experience something that reflects their personal learning pathway. This project is launching from the University of Denver (DU) in Colorado, in collaboration with this author. In fact the DU project will also incorporate the teacher into the personalised learning environment for professional development.

The Role Of The Educator Is Changing

Teachers in many places throughout the world have noted changes in their students. Their own roles have changed in response to their students and their rapidly evolving environments. In fact, when asked,

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teachers have suggested that they can no longer be the person who traditionally transfers knowledge to their students. Their role has morphed into that of mentor, facilitator, and coach supporting their students in acquiring information rather than directly impacting it. However, many districts and education institutions have not kept pace with the shifting role of the teacher, and have provided them with little support, resources, or training to effectively make this shift. In fact, many institutions of higher education are still educating teachers in an out of date methodology using equally limited pedagogy, thus many new teachers find themselves ill-prepared for the reality of teaching in todays classrooms. Teacher effectiveness has become a huge movement around the world with evaluations based on summative assessments without delivering interventions and professional development aligned to these evaluations or scores. Yet, with all of these measures, we are yet to see substantial gains in student performance. It is no wonder the teacher effectiveness programs have become controversial. We still provide educators with professional development that is not relevant to their personal learning needs and may not reflect the specific learning needs of their students. Teachers often complain that the professional development they receive is out of date, not aligned to their content

area, and not connected to the needs of their students or classes. What if teachers could receive professional development that reflected the specific learning needs of their students and they could access this information anywhere at any time? Imagine if the learning progression for a teacher was created dynamically from the learning progressions from individual students and classes such that the teacher was provided resources, content, and strategies that would prepare him or her to support the individual and group needs of all of the students. Leveraging the AI engine discussed above to directly associate teachers personalised learning pathways and the professional development (PD) the teachers receive to the learning needs of both students and teachers would empower teachers to better support their students. Perhaps, bringing the teachers learning needs into focus will provide the additive change needed to promote the gains in student achievement that have yet to be realised. Expanding the conversation of teacher effectiveness to include personalised learning pathways for teachers must begin in teacher training programs. Learning progressions can be articulated for teachers from pre-service to in-service learning to ensure that learning and teaching expectations are transparent at all levels prior to entering the classroom. A personalised learning program can no

longer ignore the teacher as a learner in the development of a program. The dynamics of the data also need to be considered, as the notion of teacher as learner creates an interesting effect on the entire learning ecosystem. However, because of the potential positive impact of bringing the educator into the system, the added complexity is worth the effort.

Personalised Learning Beyond School

The world is changing too rapidly to define specific skills needed in any one career anymore. We are moving into a world that requires each person to have access to life-long learning, anytime, and anywhere. Thus, the notion of school may also be changing to be something more along the lines of education as a service in the very near future. ETS Ramona Pierson: Former CEO / Founder of SynpaticMash; Executive Director of Learners without Borders; and Neuroscientist; and currently the Chief Science Officer for Promethean and TEDx Speaker. Ramona brings extensive experience with the PK-20 education world as an academician, educator, district administrator, and technology leader and change agent in schools worldwide. You can contact Ramona on ramona. pierson@prometheanworld.com

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