Personalization of Education

We have talked a lot about personalizing or customizing education at Penn-Trafford.  A legitimate question is, "What does that really mean?"  For those of us in education we have heard a lot in the past decade about "differentiating" instruction.  This is where a teacher attempts to reach all students through instructional strategies that best help individual students learn.  This is a great goal.  However, differentiation of instruction still exists inn the 19th Century learning model that is based on an industrial model of education.  For example, a school that just differentiates instruction still believes that the "Carnegie Unit" (or credits) are the best way to send a student through school.  A Carnegie Unit limits the school and the students because you can only teach a curriculum in a certain order at certain times. Thus, differentiation is teacher (or school system) centered, not learner centered. This is just one example of the difference between personalization and differentiation.  I found this wonderful chart that breaks down the differences between personalization, differentiation and individualization.  We are constantly moving forward at Penn-Trafford to provide the best learning experience for our students.