Mass Personalization in Learning

Diane Senechal had a guest post on the Answer Sheet blog today and she had a lot of interesting things to say about personalized learning (differentiated instruction). Mass personalization happens when computer programs retrieve statistical information about you and your habits and then alter how information or products are presented to you. For example, at Amazon.com they keep track of what books and products you look at and buy and then suggest "similar" products. They also look at demographic information. A women in her 20s may get suggestions to buy parenting books for example. And if they find out you are pregnant watch for the diaper coupons in the mail.

In education personalization comes in the form of curriculum, assessment and instructional technique. What a student studies depends on their interests, ability level, cultural background and many other attributes. So if we assess students enough (formative assessments) we can find out their ability level and then a computer program can tell a teacher what lessons may be appropriate. Now if it is modeled after the Amazon.com idea lessons can cater to interests as well. If a student is known to like baseball it could have the student read stories about baseball.

Diane Senechal worries that this may narrow the curriculum and put students in a cage of their own self-interest. What about exposing students to subjects they are unfamiliar with and maybe have an aversion to in the hopes of expanding their repertoire of interests? Many of my students in class like the essentialist philosophy for this reason. A broad, content-based curriculum exposes students to many themes they don't know and subsequently find they do like.

Diane is also worried that the personalization of learning may lead to fragmented instruction. She says that some subjects need intense and lengthy amounts of time inn order to get at the core, complex issues of its main themes. For example, a work of literature needs this kind of in-depth study. Mass personalization, she fears, means all the students off doing their own personalized learning with no time staked out for group pondering (she calls it mass imprisonment). I think her fear here is somewhat valid however, in a sustained theme personalization may be helpful. For example, when reading a rich text some students may need vocabulary review while others will be reading to jump into the complex themes.

I disagree that this needs to be a project that imprisons students in their own "mini-worlds". Obviously it could lead to that but the technology can be a wonderful tool for expanding students' worlds as well. Just as programs can suggest similar content, programs can help students bridge the content they are familiar with and interested in to content they are unfamiliar with. For example, if a student loves baseball the program could point them into the direction of a baseball players mom who happens to be an artist and show how the worlds meet. That may spark an interest in art or show the value of seeing things from a mother's perspective. Likewise, plenty of science can be done with baseball as its subject. That is a natural segue into science. Personalized learning is a tool that can be use well or badly. Senechal does have a good point on the larger question though - what about doing things as a group? Where is our responsibility as a community to be looking at the same issue at the same time?