Personalized Learning!Should you care?

Thank you for inviting me

Really, thank you

Personalized Learning:Should you care?

Yes.

Gartner Hype Cycle

The Hype Cycle in Our World

• Somebody comes up with a technology-supported practice that solves an educational problem.

• Somewhere along the line, somebody else figures out that the practice could conceivably help with an institutional problem (which is often not the same problem as the original one).

• Some company figures out that they have a product that vaguely supports the practice, co-opts the name, and sells the product (now completely disconnected from the practice) a magical solution to the institutional problem.

• On some campus somewhere, that company’s sales rep gets a meeting with the provost.

• And then….

Personalized Learning

Personalized learning is really just undepersonalized teaching.

But that doesn’t sound as cool.

Example: Middlebury College

Example: Essex County College

Doing It Right

• Identify the student need to be addressed

• Design the pedagogical structure

• Pick products or technologies based on their ability to support the pedagogy

• Don’t forget faculty training

• Don’t forget technical support

• Be prepared to measure, fail, and iterate

Example: Arizona State University

Questions?

Thank you!

• e-Literate TV personalized learning case studies: http://www.e-literate.tv/series/personalized-learning/

• e-Literate weblog: http://mfeldstein.com/

• This presentation: http://bit.ly/feldstein-itc