Unit 3 Blog post

The Role of Personalized Education

The role of personalized learning is a concept that is definitely in the forefront of a lot of conversation about education today. Although personalized learning is an idea that crosses all levels of education, it is especially important for special education. A key factor to the success of a special needs student is getting the correct education so they are able to grow as person. Personalized learning is defined as learning that adjusts the instruction so that pace of the instruction is more individualized. Also, the instruction is differentiated and it leverages student’s interests and experiences so the student’s involvement is more “personalized”. Proponents of personalized learning advocate that learning can no longer be a “one size fits all “style of education.

The aspects of personalized learning are vital to proper care for special needs students. As we see in the I.D.E.A categories, the wide range of disabilities teachers may have to encounter are great and each comes with their own set of challenges. So, to be able to personalize a student’s education we first need to know the student. We don’t just need to have an understanding of the student’s disability but also understand what the students interests are so we are able to leverage this to provide a relevant material to the student and engage them in their learning. 

As teachers we all need to be prepared to approach any topic from a variety of ways so that we are able to be more flexible to the needs of the students. Differentiated instruction is vital to being able to discover all the opportunities that students have to learn.  I find that when I have several lessons prepared for the same subjects, I am able to draw upon the one that best suits the needs of my students.

One of the routes we can take is to embrace the idea of added technology into the classroom and giving students the chance to use this technology to their advantage. Personalized learning does not require technology but to be authentic in today’s classrooms it certainly helps. We also saw in our mind mapping exercise that there are an extensive number of assistive technologies available to teachers for students dealing with disabilities. It is our duty to look for any avenue possible to help improve their lives. I find in my experience that when I am integrating technologies like Prezi into my classroom the student are much more engaged.

In tomorrow’s world, I see technology playing a larger and larger role. But, technology is no good unless effective teaching already exists. Teachers need to make sure that have good classroom management skills and also collaboration with other teachers is extremely important. Teachers need to use tools, such as online forums, chat groups, blogs, websites and communication devices like the iPhone to create a network that they can draw lessons, advice and curriculum ideas from. From my own personal experience, my coworkers at Bucheon University have been an integral part of my success as teacher and being able to personalize my lessons.