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This is such a true point. We emphasize wanting to produce independent critical thinkers, but most of our whole educational system is aimed at producing compliant students who have all mastered the same things.

Do we have a need for students in society that haven't mastered the basics? I just feel we need both worlds. We need a traditional classroom with traditional standards and we need personal learning aspects to benefit the individual.

As teachers, we think of adding choice or creativity is a simple way to differentiate and personalize learning for students. Yet, we are still in the mindset of assigning grades. How do you grade someone on creativity and innovation?

I think it is difficult for teachers to offer a more personalized approach to learning when the state demands rigorous and frequent assessments on our students.

crystalseier: "Yet, we are still in the mindset of assigning grades." I agree 100%. The realm of personalized learning is hindered by the current reality that we have to grade students. I see progress in this area because some schools are going away from class rank and some are even getting rid of GPAs. I think standards-based grading is progress towards being able to have more flexibility in the classroom and not being restricted by grades, both as a teacher and also in the minds of students (and parents!)

This may not be "personalized learning" based on the definition, but I feel this is a common stepping stone for most teachers to move in that direction. I feel it would be very hard to move from traditional teaching to completely PL based on how it is defined.

I think there can be a place for these tools in a classroom. However, they are definitely not personalized. My first graders use a math program like this. It adjusts instruction based on students' answers. I use it as part of my math stations, but I do not see it as the entire instruction by any means. I also do not see it as personalized learning. Students do not get to choose interest areas. It does not even really allow for solving math problems in unconventional ways. However, I do find it to be a useful resource for a small part of the school day.

This particular section revealed some real fears I thought I didn't have about relinquishing control.

It seems like technology will be controlling the classroom instead of the teacher.

When teaching very young students, how can the make an authentic choice to tackle a problem?

Facilitating opportunities for 'authentic choice' for each student for every concept is an overwhelming thought. Students need to have the skill of being self-motivated.

I love the idea of personal learning and kids would be more engaged in authentic work. But how do we give them the skills we are still required to teach while allowing this type of environment.

I agree with this 100%! It takes a lot of time on the front end to set something like this up, and then the teacher has to be ok with some chaos in their classroom as students go in every which direction.

That's one of the basic infrastructural needs that seems to get overlooked: actual space to do this. Our classrooms barely have enough room for tables and chairs, let alone stations for multiple learning environments.

This control is hard to give up! When I know we can learn something in less time and in a more "clean" fashion, it's hard to let students get messy, but sometimes it's worth it!

I agree that it can be difficult to release complete control and avoid jumping in and pointing out an 'easier' way. It is worth it though to see students take so much ownership and pride in their learning!

I also use this strategy. It makes it less personal and the students decide between themselves who is going to move, rather than it seeming like I singled one of them out.

This is such a key idea in educational technology. Our understanding about how people learn has exploded, thanks to lots of new research about the brain. However, research on teaching isn't quite there yet, so there are a lot of us who aren't sure the best way to implement technology to achieve the highest levels of success for our students.

At this point in the article, I have many thoughts floating around. One major thought comes to mind. Can we ever fully personalize our classrooms? I get the points given here, but as a functioning society don't we have to conform a little bit? As parents, I think we do this to our children more than most of us would like to admit and certainly our schools follow suit. Also this first line here, isn't this what state standards do? Provide some sort of standardized leaning? Or is it simply saying that kids should be able to design how they will progress through a certain standard? A student chooses his or her own path to the end. However, if is a standard of no interest to me and you make me do it anyway is that truly personal learning? I'm starting to feel like flip flopping politician.

This seems to go against our current reality in my school. We're told that everything has to be data driven or evidence based. On the surface that makes sense, but my issue has always been that we are dealing with people not things. We work in a system filled with a multitude of variables and I would agree that there is a folly in believing that everything can be reduced to numbers. The more I read this article, the more I am thinking that we might be looking at turning the traditional school upside down on it's head.

Yes, our kids today are walking around with infinite knowledge at their finger tips. Yes, they don't know how to use it and when they are provided the opportunity, they don't seem to use it. I'm not saying that they can't or won't. I'm saying that from my experiences, they are trained not to do so. So many students do not realize their own potential for learning. They want to wait for the teacher to tell them what to do, what the correct answer is, or how to go about a particular task. Maybe we trained them too well. I 500% agree that we need to teach this skill. I also know that I have struggled to do this myself. If asked, I would have say, no I don't how to teach these new literacy skills. It's talked about, but I haven't seen any real professional development on the subject. If you know of any, please share.

I couldn't agree more with your ideas about students not knowing how to use the knowledge. Sometimes they ask me the simplest question and are offended that I don't have the answer for them. To which I ask, how could you find the answer? I feel as though they only take advantage of having that knowledge at their fingertips when it's a direct benefit to them and seems simpler than relying on someone else for the information. I encourage so many of my students to think through investigations for themselves and to try and come up with possible answers first. So many of them want to sit and wait for me to tell them everything and haven't realized how much more power there is in learning it if they put in the cognitive effort first. Coming from the same district, I also don't know how we teach them how to persevere through that when they just want to take the easy route, but there have to be some strategies out there that help to break down that "instant gratification mindset."

Everything we do is to improve student achievement. This helps us going future instruction.

WE hear data driven decisions so often but this is a such a clear definition of why we base instructional decisions on data.

It is important to do this as students are doing work, having group discussion, and possibly by another adult that can step in the room. One person may observe learning or needs that another cannot.

This collaboration is important. Students need to feel like they have respect and "own" their learning. I teach Special Ed, so I always give students a way to own their instruction and opportunities to improve.

I agree. Not all kids are risk takers so when they feel supported they are more likely open up with the others in the learning process

This is the direction I really want to go in my classrooms. It is transitioning my students from passive to more active learners. The part that I have work on is building the class norms and modeling them properly in my class.

A classroom culture where there is collaboration between teacher and students in the learning process would be so exciting. I think it would hold students more accountable when they are part of their own process.

Not all instruction is appropriate for completely online. The teacher will have to decide when or what parts of the lesson can be delivered online (video, recording, etc.) and when it should be delivered F2F. Sometimes activites and discussions are better suited for F2F. While videos, quizzes, forums, etc., can be all delivered online.

Formative and summative assessments are important to see if students understand the material. If the assessments show students aren't understanding, then adjustments, such as reteaching, can be made to help students to understand.

This particular point is important in that instructors should include formative checks for understanding along the way. There is certainly a need for this in an online course.

This is definitely needed to help guide students and teachers with their learning.  Especially in online learning when teachers do not see their students each day.  Quality formative assessments help check to see if students are learning what they need to learn.

I think getting feedback from my students will be very important. When I finally teach a fully online course, I know I will make mistakes and hearing from my students what work and what doesn't will be very important!