Technology makes customized learning possible now

On Board Online EXTRA • November 5, 2012

By Barbara Bradley

What if school districts could customize learning for individual students the same way Amazon.com suggests books for its customers?

They can, with a system called mass customized learning, according to Bea McGarvey, an educational consultant and author, who spoke to a full house at NYSSBA’s 93rd Annual Convention & Education Expo on Oct. 26.

Just as Amazon.com tailors book selections to individual customers based on their purchasing profiles, schools can tailor instruction to individual students based on their needs, interests and abilities – and enable them to learn anywhere, any time.

Mass customized learning is now possible with today’s technology – it wasn’t necessarily possible 10 years ago, she explained.  We’ve gone from the Industrial Age to the Information Age in everything but education, she said.

McGarvey co-authored the book “Inevitable – Mass Customized Learning – Learning in the Age of Empowerment.” It is a vision for education, she said, and it takes strong leadership to bring it about.

The secret for changing the current system is to borrow (“or steal”) an idea from another market or industry for your market or industry, she explained.

Students learn in different ways and on different timeframes, according to Garvey. Mass customized learning embraces this and shifts the focus from graded, time-driven system used by most schools to a customized system with a balance of teacher-facilitated and online learning based on individual student needs.

Students are assessed on a series of learning outcomes derived from the courses, or seminars, in their individualized learning schedule. They must demonstrate mastery of the outcome before they can move on to a new seminar.

McGarvey introduced Lori, a 14-year-old high school student, in a YouTube video, to demonstrate how high school students create and follow their individualized learning schedules: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdCHvLSR_Iw&feature=plcp. Examples of high school learning seminars include “Lewis and Clark and Westward Expansion,” “Democracy and the History of the United States,” and “Career Options that Fit Me.”

Mass customized learning focuses on learning goals rather than activities and assignments, she said.

For more on mass customized learning, read a chapter on transformational technologies from McGarvey’s book, co-authored with Chuck Schwahn, at http://masscustomizedlearning.com/docs/InevitableChapter2.pdf