If you're in education, chances are you've heard the term "personalized learning." But what does that phrase mean? What does "personalized learning" look like from coast to coast, classroom to classroom?
For the last few years, we’ve collected stories written by educators—edtech coordinators, librarians, superintendents and others—from all fifty states and the District of Columbia. We called it The Fifty States Project, an initiative to showcase educators and their stories of supporting learning by using technology.
People took note, and now, we’re back for the third year, rebooting the Fifty States Project for the 2016-2017 school year. But this time, there’s a twist.
We want to celebrate the art, knowledge and best practices shared by educators across urban, suburban, and rural communities, wielding technology to make a real difference for kids—but specifically with regards to personalized learning. We are looking to hear answers to the following inquiries:
- How do you define personalized learning? What does personalized learning look like in practice?
- Describe the curriculum, instructional design, products and/or technologies that you have used to implement personalized learning.
- How do we better prepare teachers and students to implement personalized learning?
- Describe the challenges and/or solutions to implementing and assessing personalized learning in the classroom.
Below, you'll find our collection of articles that we'll build over the next ten months, finishing just in time for the 2017-2018 school year. Interested in contributing? Any K-12 state, district and school leaders, administrators or can apply here to tell their story.
Defining ‘Personalized Learning’
How are educators across the U.S. defining “personalized learning,” and what does it look like in the classroom?
The Approaches and the Technology
There are a number of different curriculum, instructional design, product and/or technology decisions that educators make when they implement personalized learning in the classroom. What are their go-to resources?
Preparing Teachers (and Students, Too)
As much as some educators hope to change their classroom practices to better personalize for students, so too must the constructs of professional development switch. What does solid PD look like for all those involved?
Challenges Along the Way
Not everything goes perfect when integrating or switching to a personalized learning model. And what challenges when implementing and assessing personalized learning in the classroom—and furthermore, what are the solutions?
This project was funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.