Food for Thought: Thinking about Personalized Learning in Practice

Dear all,

At the Cognita Leadership Conference, Simon Camby, the Cognita Director for Global Education spoke about Personalized Learning, as it has an important place in the Cognita Way, for those who missed information on the Cognita Way from a previous post, here it is for you. It was clear from his keynote that we are ahead of most schools in our interpretation of Personalized Learning and making it happen. Last week this article on school disruption was share with me and hence I wanted to share with you as Food for Thought. Immediately I thought of the quote attributed to Gandhi “be the change you want to see in the world.” I say attributed because whilst browsing, I discovered that there are researchers who say that Gandhi never actually said these words, although he would probably agree with them. The power of these words, that certainly align with Gandhi's philosophies, are that they encourage us to stop judging others because they replace complaining with a call for self-reflection and the need to action and take control ourselves. What it appears he actually said was much deeper and is this quote:


https://www.google.com.vn/search?safe=strict&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=IKOkWqrBOobsvgSLqrqwBQ&q=gahnadi+quote+but+we+mirros+the+world&oq=gahnadi+quote+but+we+mirros+the+world&gs_l=psy-ab.3...362868.368487.0.369087.23.23.0.0.0.0.173.1967.20j3.23.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.79...0i13k1j0i8i13i30k1.0.jMv_wplSQ54#imgrc=7rfUf0vxwhiyIM:

I suppose it doesn't matter who said these words as they are very useful for encouraging individual action. So returning to the article you will find that it provides support for the direction that we are moving as school again demonstrating its power for student agency and learning.

"It may not seem like “school” in the classic sense—but then, that is the point. NuVu is an off-the-grid, independent “micro-school,” whose 60 students are stretching the boundaries of what constitutes education in America. Such boutique programs offer highly personalized environments on a tiny scale, in a tech-enabled reinvention of the one-room schoolhouse that eschews lockstep schedules and standard curricula for student-led learning. They represent a handful of private schools in the country today, but their rapid growth and embrace of sought-after “deeper learning” goals raise important questions about how to scale and democratize the approach."

In the last section the debate arises about if this form of education can be expanded beyond micro-schools and this is where we come in with Studio 5 moving to Grade 6 and 4. We know it can be done because there are several models in countries like new Zealand and Australia, it is the will to change that matters. I enjoyed the final sentences,

"Wildflower’s Kramer is sympathetic but believes that the benefits outweigh the liabilities. “If you think about what modern neuroscience research tells us, the basic principle of learning theory is that kids learn more when they get to follow their interests,” he said. “What we need are human-scaled, autonomous school environments. Micro-schools are not a magic solution, but they do work on important topics that we haven’t figured out at scale anywhere else.”

Lots to think about in this article,

Have a good Sunday,

Adrian