Personalized Learning: What Is It, and How It Helps Your Child
reviewed by Jo-ann Caballes
Updated on September 26, 2024
Each student has some learning style and pace. If these are considered, they can achieve better results in any subject (yes, even one they are not naturally inclined to). That resonates with the personalized learning definition.
Even though this method is more of a fantasy in 2024 schools, it has become the core of 1:1 learning. In this article, we’re talking about personalized teaching and why it matters.
What is personalized learning?
Personalized learning is an educational approach that aims to adjust to the individual preferences and skills of each specific student.
In terms of this method, each kid receives a specifically developed personal plan based on their current knowledge, preferences, and learning style. The trick is that notwithstanding these factors, all children in a classroom should meet the standards of a specific class curriculum.
Here’s what Shenella Karunaratne, a Licensed Professional Counselor, has to say about the essence of this learning type:
“Kids come with many differing styles and preferences for how they learn.”
Personal learning with Brighterly
At this point, you might think that personal learning seems too complex for a traditional classroom. Well, you’re right to some extent.
This approach has shown some mind-blowing results but still remains only scarcely adopted due to its complexity and the required resources. However, that’s not an issue with 1:1 learning, where a personalized approach shines brightly. It has become a cornerstone of the studying process at platforms like Brighterly.
The main benefit of Brighterly is that this resource utilizes the convenient one-to-one approach and combines it with a tailor-made study program that perfectly fits your child’s needs. Whether it’s elementary, middle, or high school students, tutors here will do their best to organize a safe and friendly environment.
Now that you can define personalized learning let’s see how it works: a skilled teacher (with some knowledge in psychology, of course) scrupulously tests your child for their current math competence. Once they have the scope and requirements to work with, they develop a personalized program for your kid.
But here comes the most interesting part: this program isn’t rock-solid. As the tutor better learns your child, they can adjust the studying flow accordingly, implementing more tasks of a specific type or focusing more on tricky topics.
Excellent, right? So, obviously, if personalized studying is your priority, booking a demo lesson with Brighterly is an excellent option.
Why is personalized learning important?
Personalized learning is important for several reasons:
- It increases student performance
- It fits each child’s needs
- It reduces the dropout rate
- It helps to establish better teacher-student relationships
- It puts students in the center of learning
Let’s discuss each point in more detail.
Personalized learning increases student performance
Naturally, once students are introduced to the studying process centered exclusively around them, they feel more responsible, engaged, and capable of completing specific tasks.
By now, customized learning has proven itself highly effective. Here’s what Jen Jones, renowned educator and literacy expert, has to say about it:
“As an educator for over 30 years, I have seen how personalized learning boosts achievement.”
She also emphasizes: “Students are more engaged when content resonates with them, leading to greater mastery and higher scores.”
It fits each child’s needs
A student is an individual — remember what we discussed at the beginning? Unfortunately, traditional learning doesn’t account for the specific characteristics of each child. In terms of it, teachers take the stage, strictly guiding all kids to meet academic goals. In the end, it’s not strange that some of them fail on the way.
Personalized learning in education changes the lead roles. Yes, maybe your kid won’t become a math Ph.D. Still, they will succeed in memorizing all the core subject concepts and know how to apply them in real life.
It reduces the dropout rate
As kids become more engaged in the subject, they are less likely to fail during their tests and drop out. They also have more chances to successfully enter their college or university. It’s a win-win combo.
It helps to establish better teacher-student relationships
The trick with a personalized learning curriculum is that it’s where teachers actually start understanding their students and vice versa. As they build stronger bonds, the two become friends. Eventually, it’s more fun and productive to learn a subject with a friend than some solemn, distant adult, agree?
It puts students in the center of learning
This methodology allows students to choose their preferred learning style and follow it. The teacher is only meant to support and guide them.
At the same time, traditional grades aren’t the primary goal of personalized learning. Instead, the value gained moves to the forefront.
What is individualized learning?
Individualized learning encourages teachers to follow student needs and adjust their practices to create a student-centered classroom.
This approach usually targets the three core elements:
- Studying content
- Pace of learning
- Technologies involved
Brighterly individualized learning in math
Let’s get back to Brighterly, a platform where personalized learning goals take the chief place. How does the platform do it? And what can you expect? These are the four core pillars of its activities:
- First and foremost, tutors at Brighterly account for your child’s age, personality, and goals.
- All these elements combined are used to create a tailored study plan. Yes, Brighterly boasts its award-winning curriculums, along with a personalized approach and homework help, to name a few individualized learning examples.
- Top this methodology with a struggle to show your kid the real value of the concepts they study. The child is actively encouraged to ask the “what” question and truly understand how the procedures flow.
- Not to mention that Brighterly tutors actively utilize all the top-rated methodologies, resources, and technologies to build the best-suited program. By the way, personalized learning technology has proven of much benefit in studies. Jen Jones also highlights its role:
“I observed that reading scores rose 25% in 2 years after implementing adaptive learning technology.”
Does it sound like the dream studying process to you and your kid? Book a Brighterly demo lesson today and see how things work in practice.
Benefits of personalized learning
Personalized learning brings multiple benefits, including:
- Better student engagement
- Opportunity to express student’s voice
- Flexible studying pace
- Addressing knowledge gaps
- Overall better-studying results
As discussed, personalized learning can hardly be adopted in a traditional studying class. However, there are a number of personalized learning solutions you can benefit from:
- 1:1 tutoring is where a student and a teacher work closely to guarantee the best results. This form undermines constant cooperation and communication between the parties.
- Project-based learning is based on the idea that a student (or group of students) should deal with some real-world problem involving their current skills and knowledge. In this case, a kid works through the prism of their experience and chooses any solution they like. Creative, analytical thinking, and more — PBL can hardly be overestimated.
- Flipped instructions are among those personalized learning strategies that reverse traditional learning flow. According to this approach, students receive content to deal with at home from books or videos. Once they transfer to a classroom, they must apply what they’ve learned while teachers closely support them and fill any knowledge gaps.
AI in personalized learning
The great news is that the development of studying resources and methodologies is a never-ending process. What makes waves today is the ground-breaking AI technology. It literally brings personalized teaching to new scales while being able to:
- Automatically analyze student needs and come up with tailored programs.
- Identify areas of difficulty and provide constructive feedback and guidance.
- Analyze large bulks of student data and thus develop an in-depth learner portrait.
Surely, these innovative possibilities change how personalized learning works. And it has already shown notorious results. Jen Jones mentions the following:
AI-based platforms can analyze how students learn and tailor content for specific needs. Studies show these systems accelerate learning up to 50% over traditional teaching.
To Conclude
Personalized learning is gaining traction these days and for a good reason. It promises a more individualized approach, student-centered studying, and better knowledge acquisition. And it tackles those tasks quite successfully. Obviously, personalized learning examples will become must-follows for anyone who wants to account for their kid’s preferences, pace, and style.
Are you one of this kind? Then don’t hesitate to book a lesson at Brighterly!
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