Personalized Learning Models

EDUCAUSE LEARNING INITIATIVE | NOVEMBER 2015

The topic of personalized learning—along with related concepts such as adaptive learning and competency-based education—has received considerable attention lately, including predictions about imminent changes to higher education. Initiatives so far have had mixed results, and the resources below look at a variety of educational models that incorporate aspects of personalized learning.

 Personalized Learning Is Hard (2015)

In this post, Michael Feldstein discusses some of the challenges Essex County College faced trying to improve pass rates in developmental math courses through the use of adaptive learning. Despite the difficulties at ECC, Feldstein supports the model of differentiated instruction, but he points out that making it work can be very difficult.

What Does ‘Personalized Learning’ Look Like? Video Series Aims to Go Beyond Hype (2015)

This story profiles the work done by Phil Hill and Michael Feldstein around personalized learning, particularly a series of videos about several profiled institutions. The video series aims to get past the rhetoric surrounding personalized learning and see what really works and what does not.

A Framework for Interactivity in Competency-Based Courses (2015)

In this article, Daniel Hickey lays out the case for competency-based education, including discussing the disadvantages. He then describes a proposed framework—which he calls participatory learning and assessment—designed to help both faculty and students succeed in such environments.

Personalized Learning Consortium (2015)

The Personalized Learning Consortium is an initiative from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities to develop strategies for institutions to personalize and improve education. The PLC is a new, emerging organization to help organize and develop governance/guidance models and build a community of practice around personalized learning.

Release of University of California at Davis Case Study on e-Literate TV (2015)

The fifth installment of the e-Literate TV series on personalized learning includes three videos looking at how a large research university with a focus on STEM fields sought to improve success rates in introductory science classes.

Learning to Adapt: Understanding the Adaptive Learning Supplier Landscape (2013)

This paper provides colleges and universities with a framework to discuss adaptive learning and the broad landscape of solutions available from providers of adaptive learning tools. The paper addresses the topic from the standpoints of approach, taxonomy, and maturity.

Bigfoot, Goldilocks, and Moonshots: A Report from the Frontiers of Personalized Learning (2013)

This article ponders the ability of personalized learning to upend the educational “iron triangle” of access, quality, and cost, a notion that has long held that an improvement in any of these three elements must come at the cost of one or both of the others.

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