Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

The Rise of Personalized Learning

—

by

James A. Bacon
in ,

IBM has just published five big predictions for the next five years. A couple of them are germane to Bacon’s Rebellion, but none more so than this. Personalized learning is a very different vision from Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which teach the same material to potentially thousands of students, but it’s just as revolutionary: “In five years, classrooms will learn about you, and personalize coursework accordingly. It’s the end of the era of one-size-fits-all education, and the beginning of personalized learning.”

Will Virginia’s educational systems embrace the change? Or will the naysayers pooh-pooh the potential? It will take time to figure out how to make things work. There will be false starts and failed experiments. But the potential benefits are staggering. Those who start experimenting early will be the first to reap the rewards.

— JAB

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4 responses to “The Rise of Personalized Learning”

  1. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    it’s not what you’ve learned… it’s want a trustworthy source verifies what you’ve learned.

    re: ” Will Virginia’s educational systems embrace the change?”

    sure.. look at all the current private schools that people do send their kids to.

    who better to leverage this technology and do so for less money and provide more for the kids?

    don’t expect the public schools to be the leaders but I would expect the private schools to do it (and perhaps hybrid home schooling).

    Charters/Choice also have some opportunity but in my view – many are not what they seem.. they basically are trying to serve a cherry-picked demographic.. the “easy” kids to teach and would love to leave the harder kids to the public schools.

    but no.. don’t expect the public schools to be the bow wave…

  2. reed fawell III Avatar
    reed fawell III

    I agree totally with this short video. Everyone learns differently. Tailoring the delivery of education to the needs of individual learners can often have profound effect. Often these learning differences fall into broad categories. An each of several solutions can have broad application.

    For example, I do not oversimplify when I say that the word processor has liberated many a literary genius from the dregs of oblivion that would otherwise have been imposed by the need of him or her to write by hand.

    Or, for another example, a professor who slows down his oral delivery and more clearly pronounces his words can have the same positive impact for many of his students without impeding the learning of others in class.

    In short, aptitudes for learning vary all over the place in the ways that different individuals hear and see and process and translate information into learning. Information can be broken up into many different formats.

    Similarly I am a addict for the self learning offered by Teaching Company Great Courses, but I am frustrated to tears by the few MOOCs courses. For me life’s too short for the latter’s nonsense. But what I consider nonsense may be essential for others, if only because I don’t need a degree.

    I am coming to believe that MOOCS will break down higher education into a variety of combinations that might generally include varieties of:

    1/ The MOOC long distance lecture of more introductory information formerly given in large lecture halls. The question is how far up the learning curve these lectures can go. I suspect its often student specific.

    2./ Smaller classes grounded on assigned reading materials plumbed by instructor leading an internet blog session similar to but more structured than the blogging exchange that goes on within the website.

    3/ The small and intense resident seminar ranging up to 15 students. Plus some kind of video hookup trying to do the same long distance.

    4/ The one on one tutor mentor arrangement.

    How the balance and mix of these components will work together is the key part. This presents huge opportunities that can be tailored successfully in many different ways depending on student needs. That’s exciting part.

    1. reed fawell III Avatar
      reed fawell III

      Correction to subsection 2/ above –

      2./ Smaller classes grounded on assigned reading materials plumbed by instructor leading an internet blog session similar to but more structured than the blogging exchange that goes on within THIS Bacon’s Rebellion website.

  3. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    the key to this working is some kind of independent generic verification of what someone has actually learned (verses what courses they have “taken”).

    It will have to change from current.

    the SAT is the gold standard (I think) but higher ed also wants to know what your QCA is and what non-academic things you have participated in.

    then after college – the whole idea of exactly what a “diploma” means for say.. a Bachelor of Science or a Masters in Education is going to be re-examined.

    For instance, if I asked what the qualifications are for a Master of Business Administration for a MOOC course – would you know how to compare it to ….say a Master in Business Administration from University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) or Phoenix or XYZ MOOC?

    if you are an employer looking for top drawer entry level folks – how would you be able to ascertain the rigor of a particular MOOC course of study?

    I just don’t think claiming you took every Kahn Academy course on business administration is going to get the same respect as a degree from University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) or UVA (Darden).

    a MOOC degree from Phoenix is not going to carry the same weight as a MOOC degree from UofP or UVA.. (I think).

    see this topples much more that just “education”. it topples the whole paradigm for judging knowledge, skill and competence…

    and one more thing – do you want the govt involved in this like they are right now for Medicine, law and engineering?

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