GAIN: Will Richardson on "Personal vs. Personalized" Education

     I watched a TEDx Talk by Will Richardson that he gave in New York a few years back (just as Common Core was being implemented). I loved just about everything he said from teachers needing to adapt to the way kids learn to the way that the government thinks of education. He provided light on the subject of the "personalized learning" being supported by Zuckerberg and Gates. According to Richardson, at first glance the "personlized learning" initiative seems great because it is an attempt to cater to individual students needs in education. However, the goal is basically to improve test standards; therefore, schools become simply "test prep."
     I have not had time to really process his thoughts but his point is challenging and something worth looking at and thinking about.
     On Richardson's daily blog on June 8th, I commented on his blog "This is Why Personalized Learning Will Fail." According to Richardson, personalized learning will fail because if it works it everyone will become "achiever's" and get A's. This will result in their being no actual standard and the system will fail. Either this or not everyone will achieve as a result of the initiative, thus the initiative will still be viewed as a failure.
     I like how Richardson draws a line between "personal learning" and "personalized learning. According to him, personal learning is where students (and anyone for that matter) take their own initiative to learn and use their resources to improve their learning. Personalized learning is where individuals outside the learner attempt mold the school system to suit the students rote memorizing skills so that they can pass tests using information that they will eventually forget later.
   Challenging thoughts. Confession: I felt like a bit of an idiot when commenting on this blog because everyone else was using super awesome words and sentence structures that demonstrated critical thinking skills I have yet to attain.