Personalized Learning - K-12 Education When learning is personalized, teachers help students find what they like and want to learn about and what their strengths and needs are. Then, the teacher sets up projects that are in line with the students’ interest and with academic standards. This growing movement is focused on changing the learning environment so students can take more ownership of their learning and teachers can work with them to discover their passions and interests. The breakthrough idea in personalized learning is the striking shift in the teacher-student team. In traditional learning, the teacher is the leader and the student is a mostly passive recipient. In personalized learning, the student is the leader, and the teacher is the activator and the advisor. In personalized learning, the teacher-student bond doesn’t matter less; it matters more. Continued Progress: Promising Evidence on Personalized Learning (2015) > Early Progress: Interim Research on Personalized Learning (2014) >
Honors Biology Class Handouts - Mr. M.N. Baker Chapter 7 Cell Structure and Function Chapter 10: Cell Growth and Division Chapter 11: Introduction to Genetics Chapter 12: DNA and RNA Chapter 13: Genetic Engineering C13A1: Create A DNA Fingerprint to understand Restriction Enzymes and Gel Electrophoresis Internet Links: Nova: Create A DNA Fingerprint DNA Learning Center: Lecture: Unit 4 Test Review Chapter 14: The Human Genome How To Create a ‘Personal Learning Environment’ to Stay Relevant in 2013 “Our understanding of learning has expanded at a rate that has far outpaced our conceptions of teaching. A growing appreciation for the porous boundaries between the classroom and life experience…has created not only promising changes but also disruptive moments in teaching.” EDUCAUSE Review, 2012 This quote from Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education (Bass, 2012), gives a good a reason as any for educators to develop a Personal learning Environment [PLE]; a space where we can keep up with the experimental modes of learning, instruction, changing pedagogy and instructional methods that surfaced in 2012. Three Reasons Why Educators Need a PLEEducation is in a phase of disruption (not news to anyone)—and it’s not just a blip or a bump, but is what Harvard professor and author Clayton Christenson describes as disruptive innovation. We need to disrupt ourselves: The model of higher education is at a turning point. Closing Thoughts Resources: Like this:
11 Ways Finland’s Education System Shows Us that “Less is More”. | Filling My Map When I left my 7th grade math classroom for my Fulbright research assignment in Finland I thought I would come back from this experience with more inspiring, engaging, innovative lessons. I expected to have great new ideas on how to teach my mathematics curriculum and I would revamp my lessons so that I could include more curriculum, more math and get students to think more, talk more and do more math. This drive to do more and More and MORE is a state of existence for most teachers in the US….it is engrained in us from day one. When I arrived in Finland I did not find big flashy innovative thought provoking math lessons. So, what is the difference? Less IS more. They believe it. Conversely in the US we truly believe “more is more” and we constantly desire and pursue more in all areas of our lives. We can’t even stick to ONE philosophy of education long enough to see if it actually works. Finland on the other hand believes less is more. Less = More 1. (But wait! • Enter the workforce. 2.
First Steps to Personalize Learning If you wait until you’re ready for personalized learning, you’ll never get started! Our antiquated, factory-style education system is failing our students. It’s also failing our teachers. Personalized learning (PL) is the opportunity our students are waiting for, are craving, and deserve to experience. The work of implementing personalized learning isn’t easy and in fact there may well be resistance from many within the educational system when a district or campus leadership team begins the work of shifting to PL. I’d like to offer a few ideas for how your district can get started along the PL journey. First, seek out local and national organizations that are doing work around personalized learning and find out what resources they have that can help your district implement your vision. For West Oso ISD, our first step was to reach out to a Texas-based education advocacy group called Raise Your Hand Texas (RYHT). The work of PL cannot be carried out by a select few in the organization.
Brain Breaks: 7 YouTube Channels to Get Kids Moving Whether you’re stuck inside because of the weather, you just need to change up the tone on one of THOSE days at home, or you’re looking for brain break ideas for your class or group, this collection of YouTube channels includes plenty of inspiration to get kids moving, grooving and having fun. They’re just perfect for a re-set, whether you are at home or at school. For those of you wondering, what is a brain break? It’s simply a short (under 5 minutes), engaging activity that teachers use to refresh and refocus student attention. A brain break should get the blood pumping and the brain working! 7 Youtube Channels To Get Kids Moving & Grooving 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. What are your favourite Youtube channels for kids movement? You may also like: Save Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. Read more of Christie's adventures at
Adaptive learning featured in HarvardX course The Harvard University strategic initiative HarvardX is running a massive open online course (MOOC) that features adaptive learning and assessment algorithms that tailor course material in response to student performance. “Adaptive learning functionality,” through which a computer system can fit learning experiences to the needs of each student, had not been offered previously in a HarvardX course and is featured in a few courses across the edX online learning platform. But it is being used in “Super-Earths and Life,” taught by Harvard’s Phillips Professor of Astronomy Dimitar Sasselov. “Adaptive learning programs are very good at speeding up information acquisition and lengthening retention, as well as individualizing learning to help learners see where they have difficulty,” said Peter K. According to Robert A. And, as VPAL research faculty director and Harvard Government Professor Dustin Tingley said, the possibilities of adaptive learning go beyond simple multiple-choice questions.
Technique For Getting Students to Turn in Work on Time | Kesler Science I learned this little technique from the veteran teacher next door and it’s pretty darn effective. We had a major project due last week and of course there were the 10-20% of students that didn’t have it on the due date. My previous response has always been to have a quick discussion with them about getting it to me the next day for points off. Of course they say that it’s going to be there, but often times we can go days and days with the back and forth of, “When is it going to be here?” What we had those students do instead was pick up a script that we had pre-written and had each of them go out into the hallway with our phone and told them to call home. The script read as follows: Hi Mom/Dad, this is ______________________. We had them write their name on the script and the number they called and then gave it to us after the phone call. Listen, I’m not in the business of embarrassing a student. Do you have a tip for getting students to turn their work in on time?
Adaptive Learning | WCET Adaptive learning is a form of personalized learning that allows each learner to adjust their pathway to mastery of material based upon sophisticated analytical technologies. Adaptive learning is utilized in flipped classroom settings as well as in fully online courses. Recent pilots by two-year, four-year, graduate, and professional programs are uncovering important lessons about “chunking” or “mapping” course content and linking learning science with curriculum design. 10 Tools to Help Students Keep Track of Tasks This Year This is the time of year when many of us make resolutions. If one of your students' resolutions is to do a better job of keeping track of tasks and assignments, have them take a look at one of the following options. If your school is using Google Apps for Education or your students have personal Gmail accounts, they already have some great tools at their disposal. In Gmail students can simply select "tasks" under the "Mail" drop-down menu in Gmail. Todoist is a task management service that impresses me with its clean design and intuitive user interface. Fetchnotes is a neat service for creating and keeping notes online. Wunderlist is a free task management service that syncs across all of the devices that you use. Flask is a simple tool for making to-do lists and sharing them with others. DropTask is a task management service that has a neat user interface. WorkFlowy is a simple task management service that I just learned about from Dianne Krause's daily bookmarks post.
Adaptive Learning Unplugged: Why Instructors Matter More than Ever Far from replacing instructors, adaptive learning gives them the data they need to engage students in new ways. Proponents of adaptive learning (AL) technology tout its great value as being its ability to create student-centered classrooms in their most individualized form, shy of limiting the student-to-teacher ratio to 5:1 or less. AL does this by customizing learning based on the knowledge each student brings to the course. While this personalization benefit is certainly seductive, the major question some educators are left with is: Where does this leave the teachers? Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and founding director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, claims that online classrooms limit engagement between students and instructors, and she questions the ability of online education to meet student needs over the long term. Although it can be used in traditional classrooms, AL has been a growing area of interest for online courses. Moving Beyond Facilitation Notes
7 Things You Should Know About Adaptive Learning Adaptive learning is one technique for providing personalized learning, which aims to provide efficient, effective, and customized learning paths to engage each student. Adaptive learning systems use a data-driven approach to adjust the path and pace of learning, enabling the delivery of personalized learning at scale. Adaptive systems can support changes in the role of faculty, enable innovative teaching practices, and incorporate a variety of content formats to support students according to their learning needs. The 7 Things You Should Know About... series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies.
What is Adaptive Learning Anyway? A look at the science and research behind adaptive learning technology and its application in the classroom. This post originally appeared on LinkedIn Pulse on January 5, 2017 and can be viewed here. As emerging technologies and methodologies reshape corporate training, one phrase “adaptive learning” is among the biggest of the buzzwords. I get asked all the time what exactly “adaptive learning” means. Most know the technology has something to do with e-learning, personalized education, micro-learning, badging, gamification, cloud-based learning, etc. Imagine that you could give every learner their own personalized course, made specifically for their strengths, weaknesses, goals, and engagement patterns. That’s adaptive learning. For example, the visual below on the left shows individuals moving through content in a conventional, linear setting. Some distinctions can help clarify the concept. None of this thinking is new.