Skip to main content

Personalized Learning PL




Personalized Learning







One of the key takeaways from the learning module was the distinction between personalized learning and traditional education. Personalized learning focuses on allowing students to move at their own pace, as emphasized in the Khan Academy model. Still, it sometimes fails to promote essential skills like collaboration, communication, and creativity (Borup, n.d.). While mastery-based learning ensures that students fully grasp a concept before moving on, it can limit opportunities for peer interaction. This raises a concern about how effectively these approaches can nurture broader competencies, such as teamwork and problem-solving in group settings, which are just as important as individual mastery.



Reflecting on what I’ve learned, I appreciate the benefits of personalized learning but see the value in a hybrid approach that balances self-paced learning with mentor-led, collaborative activities. Sal Khan’s brick-and-mortar lab school embodies this balance by blending project-based learning with personalized exploration (Westervelt, 2016). Unlike traditional Khan Academy classes, which focus heavily on individualized learning, the lab school emphasizes mentorship and peer collaboration. Students work together on complex problems while receiving guidance from their teachers. This dynamic is an excellent example of how a hybrid model can cultivate not only knowledge acquisition but also the development of social and emotional skills. Seeing how personalized learning can coexist with structured, hands-on learning experiences is inspiring.

From my own experiences, I see the potential benefits of adopting a hybrid model in my teaching. While I haven’t fully implemented this, I’m considering how combining personalized learning platforms like Khan Academy with more collaborative, project-based activities could provide students with a more well-rounded educational experience. The lab school model, where older students mentor younger ones, has sparked ideas for how I might introduce peer mentoring in my classrooms to foster deeper collaboration. I think this approach would not only help students master content but also develop essential social skills like communication and teamwork, which are sometimes overlooked in strictly personalized learning environments.

For more insights, check out this video from Khan Academy, which emphasizes the importance of coding and personalized learning.

References
Borup, J. (n.d.). Personalizing learning short.
Westervelt, E. (2016). From YouTube Pioneer Sal Khan, A School With Real Classrooms. NPR.

The image: OpenAI. (2024). Hybrid learning classroom [AI-generated image]. DALL·E. The prompt for this image is A modern classroom that illustrates a hybrid learning environment. In one section, students are working individually on laptops or tablets, engaged in personalized learning through a digital platform like Khan Academy. In another area, a group of students collaborates on a creative project, guided by a mentor or an older student. The room is vibrant, with colorful posters on the walls, a mix of desks, comfortable seating like beanbags, and a casual atmosphere. The students are diverse, and there is a sense of creativity, collaboration, and self-paced learning."

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Education is Changing

  Education is Changing As a teacher in Saudi Arabia, I'm always interested in how teaching methods are changing as a reflection on the new articles that I read talk about how our schools need to update their methods to better fit today's world. The story in The Saber-Tooth Curriculum by Peddiwell (1939) shows that schools should change as society changes. This idea is also discussed in the RSA ANIMATE video on changing education paradigms (RSA ANIMATE, n.d.). This video says that our old school systems don't meet the needs of our fast-changing world. This is something I've seen in Saudi Arabia too, where there is a big push to make education better fit the needs of today's job market. Finn and Fairchild (2012) in Education Reform for the Digital Era talk about how important digital learning is. They say we need to change how schools are managed and funded to really use digital learning well. This is a big topic in Saudi Arabia as we try to use more technology in ou...

Book Club - A book review : Simkins, D. (2015). The arts of LARP: Design, literacy, learning and community in live-action role play.

Book Review   The Art of Live Action Role Play Reading "The Arts of LARP" has been a truly enlightening experience. It’s fascinating to see how the principles of LARP—creativity, interactivity, and community—can be applied to digital learning design. The book has inspired me to think more deeply about how to create engaging, hands-on learning experiences and foster a strong sense of community among students. Simkins’ insights encourage us to think outside the box and continually innovate in our educational practices. It’s a reminder that learning, like LARP, should be an immersive, interactive, and dynamic experience. In this book, David Simkins introduces me to the world of Live-Action Role Play (LARP) with a clear sense of wonder, describing it as “ a unique intersection of narrative and performance. ” This immediately got me thinking about how LARP parallels the world of digital learning. In both LARP and educational design, the goal is to create environments where contrib...

Me as online teacher and learners

  Hello! Hi! 👋  My name is Ibrahim Alkenani, Here's a bit about myself so you can get to know me better, and I'm eager to learn more about you. My Professional Self I am currently engaged as an educator specialist in Learning Technology and Design at the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) , George Mason University. I have been teaching computer science to K12 and high school students and have extensive experience as a teacher trainer. My journey in education has also included designing numerous courses in higher education, where I've worked closely with educational designers as a graphics designer assistant. I am completing my Master's degree in Learning Technology in Schools  and Design Digital Learning in Schools at George Mason University and pursuing further studies. My professional interests focus on innovative online teaching strategies, community building in educational settings, and the development and integration of digital tools in learning...