As more and more people join the conversation around personalized learning and the role advancing technology plays in the future of education; parents, academics, and bystanders alike begin to raise concerns about digital dependency and lack of human interaction.
Personalized learning has its own definition apart from EdTech; it is teaching in a way that engages students and helps teachers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each learner and then tailoring curricula to fit each student’s unique needs. Technology has become woven into many personalized learning frameworks because of its ability to track individual student progress and generate unique content that surpasses the capability of a single teacher.
But personalized learning is not an invitation for technology to replace teachers. It is not handing each child their own iPad and pair of earbuds while the teacher sits back to watch. If that were the case, then we would be right back to square-one, with the problem being the lack of engagement and student-focus (only instead of students dazing at a teacher whose lecture drags on all of class, we would be placing our children in front of screens and letting technology lead the lecture.) Technology on its own solves nothing. Teacher involvement and technology are meant to go hand in hand.
Technology is a tool designed not to replace teachers but to help teachers understand the needs of their students, produce classwork that challenges students at different levels, encourage collaboration and creativity, and ultimately helps teachers empower their students to take shared responsibility of their own learning. Personalized learning is a call to action for all parties involved—students and teachers.