Elements of Learning Part 3: Personalization of Learning

Apple recently published a series of three books on the topic of Educational Leadership. Written in partnership with SRI Education's Center for Technology in Learning and with contributions from Apple Distinguished Educators, this series highlights the latest research and knowledge about great teaching and learning. In fact, the book Elements of Leadership even features the Barrington 220 District Technology Committee as an example of shared leadership in instructional technology (page 21).

This bsd220tech series focuses on the book Elements of Learning which discusses powerful instructional strategies that engage learners and empower them to believe that their work matters.  This month, we'll explore how some important tweaks to traditional student projects can take them to the next level.

Elements of Learning

Part One: Teamwork
Part Two: Creativity

Elements of Learning—Part 3 of 5: Personalization

Personalization of learning is a key component of developing student agency in their learning. The goal of personalizing learning is to increase motivation and engagement. This is accomplished by making the learning as relevant and meaningful as possible. In addition, personalization creates the best chance for the task to hit "the sweet spot" of difficulty. The goal is to make the task challenging enough that the student feels it is worth their time and effort, but not so challenging that they feel they are incapable of achieving the goal. By creating learning opportunities for students that are relevant to students and giving some level of ownership over the path to success or the outcome itself, you are providing opportunities for deeper learning. Personalizing learning can take many forms, but to be most effective, it must contain three vital elements: variation, choice, and equity.  

Variation in Task

There are many ways to effectively incorporate variation into student work.  

• Ask students to complete different activities
• Develop tasks with multiple difficulty levels based on student aptitude
• Allow students to work on different time tables
• Provide opportunities for students to create different products
• Give students the option to explore different content
• Provide different levels of support
• Ask students to use different tools to complete the work
• Ask students to focus on different aspects of a group project based on interest or unique talents

Regardless of the type of variation you attempt, the goal is always the same: to increase student ownership and engagement through personalizing the task. Obviously, this becomes very difficult when you start to think about the countless needs and differences among your students. Learning Management Systems such as Schoology make this more manageable. In addition, there are apps for elementary students that will offer differentiated tasks based on student performance.  

Student Choice

Not only is it important to provide variation in task, but giving students choice over those variations is a central component of effective personalization. Any of the components listed above could be effective ground for providing opportunities for choice. For example, assigning students different topics to research for class presentations would qualify as variation, but not choice. Allowing students to select a topic that is meaningful to them would increase choice. Taking it one step further by allowing students to select the means of communicating their learning and the timetable for completion, rather than asking them all do a class presentation, would allow significant student choice. 

Student choice is not always appropriate. Students must have a foundation of knowledge about that which they are choosing, as well as a good understanding of the options they have when choosing.  

Equitable Access

Equitable access to learning is achieved when supports are in place to allow students of varying needs and capabilities to have similar educational experiences as their peers. Students are unique and require different access to learning supports to achieve the learning goals. For example, one student might need to read a text multiple times and in a different setting. Another student may need more practice on a particular concept. Still another student may need access to additional resources. By taking advantage of digital resources and providing online access to materials, students have the ability to practice at the pace and time that is best for them. 

By using accessibility features of digital devices, students with various learning needs can access the same materials as their peers. All of these strategies create greater opportunity for students to achieve self-efficacy—a belief in students' ability to complete learning goals.  

Want to Learn More?

The book is available right now, including examples from multiple grade levels and content areas. Download the multitouch book, Elements of Learning, in the Apple Book Store:

1. Open the Apple Books app already on your device in the Applications folder of your MacBook Air or from the App Store (or Self Service) on iPad.
2. Search for Elements of Learning.
3. Click or tap Get.
4. Enter your Apple ID and password when prompted.
5. Start reading!