There's a new educational movement on the forefront in B.C. and it looks exciting. It's personalized learning and while it's still in the conversation stages and has yet to be defined, after wading through piles of documents, I think I can explain, in layman's terms, what it is and what a classroom might look like in just a few short years.
One change we'll see will be the role of the teacher, who'll now spend less time lecturing at the front of the classroom and more working with students individually or in small groups. Each child will be given a personalized learning plan based on his or her learning style, history, personality and challenges. Additionally children will have more time to explore their passions through technology - say, chatting with a student from Brazil regarding the rainforest. As well, if a student struggles with multivariable calculus or Roman architecture, she can get extra help via taped lectures anytime/anywhere from websites.
But in order for personalized learning to succeed, we can't pour cutting edge technology and education into an old structure. Instead we'll have to, as Prof. Ken Robinson - Sir Ken, as he's known - has said, overhaul the entire system.
Let's start with:
Class sizes: Personalized learning thrives best in smaller classrooms. Will our government finally make this ongoing issue a priority and reduce class sizes so our teachers and children have the best possible environment to make this work?
Money: This initiative will cost an unthinkable amount of money. So where will it all come from? And will all children benefit equally from personalized learning or will state-of-the-art technology be a luxury for only rich schools with savvy parent advisory committees?
The truth about technology: It's safe to say that technology, under this initiative, will play a vital role in classrooms, virtual and otherwise. Nevertheless, according to the 2006 Educational Testing Service (the developer of the SAT), it was said that for all their ability with technology, "students still don't seek, find and manage information very well." Bottom line? No matter how much we pray for an education miracle, technology won't cure bored teenagers and homework issues will persist because they would rather skateboard and go for a Slurpee than watch an online lecture. Moreover, technology can't replace the human beings on the front lines who act not only as facilitators but inspire and mentor, too.
Bad teachers: Good teachers make good schools and poor ones simply cost a lot of money. If we're serious about making 21st century changes in education, we can't be afraid to poke the bear on this one. A Stanford University professor found that "if the bottom 10% of poor performing teachers could be axed and replaced with just average teachers, students would improve dramatically on international tests." Hopefully we'll get this issue sorted out over the next 50 years or so.
As with any educational trend, personalized learning could be a good thing or could really mess things up if it's embraced, as some educational trends have been in the past, to the extreme and at the expense of tried-and-true methods. Remember the "whole language" debacle of the 1990s that nixed phonics for something oh so much better or, more recently, the confusion surrounding "new math" that had Grade 1 kids solve problems before they knew the fundamentals? Both trends sent two generations of children to learning centres (now a billion-dollar industry) just so kids could learn the basics.
Here's to hoping the powers that be learn from the past and listen to the debates surrounding even this next trend.
Tara McIntosh is a Port Moody resident who writes monthly in The Tri-City News.
