GotTechED the Podcast Episode #133: How does EdTech Support Personalized Learning?

Welcome back to GotTechED the podcast this is Episode 133 called “How does EdTech Support Personalized Learning”.   In this episode, we’ll define personalized learning and go over some of the many pros, cons, barriers, and benefits to this methodology.  We’ll also give several ideas for implementing personalized learning with the help of edtech.  This is another episode you don’t want to miss, check it out.

Segment 1: Updates

1. Iste Philadelphia

Segment 2: What is Personalized Learning

Personalized Learning:  

• An educational approach that tailors instruction to meet the individual learning needs, preferences, interests, and abilities of each student. 
• UDL

Pros of Personalized Learning:

1. Customized Learning: Students can learn at their own pace, receive targeted feedback, and work on topics that interest them the most.
2. Improved Engagement: Personalized learning can boost student engagement and motivation by allowing them to take more ownership of their learning and pursue their interests.
3. Flexibility: Personalized learning can be delivered through a variety of methods, including online courses, project-based learning, and one-on-one instruction, allowing for more flexibility and adaptability in the learning process.
4. Better Outcomes: Personalized learning has been shown to improve student outcomes, including higher academic achievement, increased graduation rates, and better preparation for college and career success.

Cons of Personalized Learning:

1. Implementation Challenges: Personalized learning requires a significant investment in technology, resources, and teacher training, which can be challenging for some schools and districts to achieve.
2. Equity Concerns: Personalized learning can exacerbate existing inequities in education, particularly for students who lack access to technology or quality instruction.
3. Standardization: Some critics argue that personalized learning can lead to a narrow focus on specific skills and knowledge, rather than a broad and diverse education.
4. Privacy and Data Security: Personalized learning relies heavily on data collection and analysis, which can raise concerns about student privacy and data security.

Barriers to Personalized Learning:

1. Limited Resources: Many schools and districts lack the necessary resources to implement personalized learning effectively, including technology, staffing, and funding.
2. Teacher Training: Teachers require extensive training and support to implement personalized learning effectively, including how to use technology, how to differentiate instruction, and how to monitor student progress.
3. Cultural Resistance: Some educators, parents, and students may resist personalized learning because it represents a significant shift in traditional educational practices.

Segment 3:Curating Your Classroom

1. Curated list of Guides
2. How to use Canva for creating awesome presentations?
3. Canva Tutorials
4. Canva Design School
5. Other edtech that you like to use
6. List of YouTube Videos
7. Inspod
8. Give students choice!  Choice boards are an easy way to build in small and large scale personalized learning.  A simple 3x3 grid in a google slide is a good place to start.  Slidesmania and dforlearning.com have some awesome templates to help you get rolling as well.
9. Develop a website that is used!

Feedback

1. Self-reflection: Encourage students to reflect on their own learning progress and provide feedback to themselves. 
2. Journaling
3. Blogging
4. Canva Sites
5. Google Sites
6. WordPress Free
7. self-evaluation checklists/rubrics
8. self-assessments
9. Peer feedback: 
10. Invest time into modeling this
11. Build a sense of community
12. Slides
13. Teacher feedback:
14. Individual conferences
15. Written comments
16. Rubrics
17. Edtech Tools
18. Mote
19. Comments in Google
20. Presenters Notes
21. Kami
22. Floop
23. Technology-based feedback: 
24. Instant feedback through online formative assessments
25. Google forms
26. Quizizz
27. Quizalize
28. Blooket
29. Kahoot!
30. Gimkit
31. Goal setting:
32. Encourage students to set goals for their learning and provide feedback on their progress towards these goals. This can help students stay motivated and engaged in their learning.

Creativity-Based Learning

1. Project-based learning using AI.  Teach students how to use AI correctly by building it into a project.  Use an image generator like DALL-E to have each student in the class generate a random image.  Print them out, hang on the board and move them around in such a way that they can be connected with a story.  Students must agree on an order as a large group or in multiple small groups.  They then write a story THEMSELVES (no more AI) based on this order of images.
2. Turn a typical assignment like an essay or a lab report into something visual.
3. Use Canva to create a lab report using only pictures.  
4. Use Adobe Spark to create a 5 paragraph essay using a series of 5 instagram reels.

Game-Based Learning

1. Not everyone games the same way and edtech tools are starting to account for that.  
2. Kahoot for example, offers various modes of game play.  You can play a large scale game in class AND assign the game so that students can play on their own at a slow pace.
3. Have students design the game or work together to make one large scale classroom-wide scavenger hunt.
4. Flippity.net has a cool digital board game creator that would allow students to collab on questions and make one classwide game.
5. QR themed scavenger hunt using Google docs or slides and the built in Chrome QR creator.

Other Personalized Learning Activities

• Chemistry Connections Podcast
• Bioethics project
• Passion Projects

Segment 4: Where to Find GotTechED

Do us 3 favors

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3. Spotify
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9. Write us an Apple Podcast Review!
10. Tell your friends about www.gotteched.com
11. Tell your friends about the Teach Better Podcast Network

Music Credits:

• The Degs: Shotgun http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Degs/
• @bensounds https://www.bensound.com/

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• Nick on Twitter @nickgotteched
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Need a Presenter?

As experienced presenters and content creators, you can contact Nick and Guise to speak at your school, event, or conference. They can customize a workshop that meets your organization’s unique time and content needs. While no topic is out of bounds, GotTechED is best known for sessions on:

• 1:1 Chromebook Integration
• EdTech Throwdown
• TargetED Learning
• Gamification (Badge Systems)
• Game-Based Learning (Escape Rooms, Amazing Race, and more)
• Google apps and extensions
• Personalized learning and Choice Boards
• Teacher productivity (Lesson Planning, Online Grading. and Feedback)
• Digital content creation
• Student Podcasting
• Screencasting
• Flipped Classroom
• Student-Centered Learning