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The ultimate key for even implementing any of these strategies is first and foremost to initially evaluate your students for their individual needs. Although, I am not personally an instructor, this is what I will be focusing on when talking to them going forward. Knowing more about your students will allow you to be more prepared for what strategy might be most effective for that group of students, and will get you more prepared for when you may need to be more flexible down the line in the class. Differentiation and personalization is great, but if you don't get to know your students first, then you aren't going to ultimately help them in the long run.

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Previously, I had understood that making learning student-focused, overall led to great results. Learning more about the concepts here has led me to focus my thoughts about how to go about focusing teaching in different ways. However, what I have most taken away from this conversation has been the discussion about different level schools. Although the concepts we have discussed here have been great ways to increase student learning and engagement, I have a new-found appreciation for the practices already in place within most districts. From having things like accelerated course groups for math, different level schools, tutoring programs, and so much more. It really makes me appreciate how much education changes as a field and how much work we are constantly doing to try to make it a better place for students.

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Differentiated instruction, individual instruction, personalized learning, and universal design, are very similar concepts when you start breaking them down into their most basic parts. They are like the differently colored parts of a Bomb Pop. It can be hard to differentiate where one starts and one stops, they all taste just a little different, and they are all come from the same foundation (stick). The biggest part overlooked by many of the material we looked at is simply how much time/effort it takes to make these practices a reality. Initial assessment of your students is key to understanding their unique needs, but there are going to be times where strategies like these may not be the most effective.

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Spector, J. (2015). Personalized learning and instruction. In J. Spector (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of educational technology (pp. 576-580). Thousand Oaks,, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483346397.n240

TEAL Center. (2010). Universal Design for Learning. Teaching Excellence in Adult Literacy, 2. Retrieved from https://lincs.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2_TEAL_UDL.pdf.

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UDL designs a curriculum that:

provides all individuals with equal opportunities to learn

serves all learners regardless of ability/disability, age, gender, cultural or linguistic backgrounds

addresses and redresses the primary barrier to learning: inflexible, one-size-fits-all curricula that raise unintentional barriers

is grounded in three principles:

Multiple means of representation

Multiple means of action and expression

Multiple means of engagement

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Reid, G., Strnadová, I., & Cumming, T. (2013). Expanding horizons for students with dyslexia in the 21st century: Universal design and mobile technology. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs,13(3), 175-181. doi:10.1111/1471-3802.12013

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Personalized vs. differentiated vs. individualized learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=124

Pipkin, C. (2015). Five key elements of personalized learning. Edsurge Learning Strategies. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-04-01-five-key-elements-of-personalized-learning.

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Shamir, A., Mevarech, Z. R., & Gida, C. (2008). The assessment of meta-cognition in different contexts: Individualized vs. peer assisted learning. Metacognition and Learning,4(1), 47-61. doi:10.1007/s11409-008-9032-2

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Differentiation is going to be one of my day-to-day practices as it is obvious that there is no way students can learn the same way at the same pace or have the same needs as a whole class. Therefore, to ensure that all students are learning what they need, I will reach them out at individual level, but I will also consider small groups and whole class. Moreover, I have to always bear in mind that differentiation is done to content, process and product stages.
Furthermore, being advanced should not prevent students from learning new things according to their needs and interests, that is the reason why I will be designing all the differentiated materials for both lower level and advanced  level students.

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In a diverse classroom, I mostly tended to be a bit less concerned about advanced learners, maybe because I was sure they were going to pass the class (which was not appropriate for the student learning growth). However, for lower level learners, I always provided extra support including extra tutoring hours in addition to my attempts to differentiate them. Now that I have explored all these different approaches of teaching that focus on individual students in one way or another, my biggest change is that my attention will be directed to any students' needs of development despite their levels.

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At the very beginning of our investigation, I simply thought the approaches we were going to examine were close to each other or slightly different, but I ended up understanding that they were different and had different focuses.

Differentiated Instruction: meet individual learners' needs, preferences and goals.

Individualized Instruction: allow to meet individual students' unique pace to enhance students' readiness.

Personalized instruction: encourage students to take ownership of their learning.

Universal Design Learning: provide to all students with equal opportunities to learn through multiple means of representation, action & expression and engagement.

Today than ever, I have realized that my responsibility as a teacher does not stop at differentiating the content, but the process and product as well.

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For me, I am going to make sure that when I am differentiating my classroom, I spend as much time differentiating assignments for my advanced learners as I do for my struggling students. In the past I have always been spending most of my time creating assignments and activities to help my lower level learners comprehend the content more. I will make sure to spend more time making the differentiated activities in my classroom more personal to the students to create that atmosphere of personalization.

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Before looking into the topics of differenatiated instruction vs. independent vs. personalized vs universal design,  I knew as an educator that differentiating the way we teach content in the classroom is very important when it comes to the education of the students. One of the things that has changed for me through the research and conversations our group had was in regards to how many times the advanced students get overlooked when it comes to differentiating.

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The key takeaway for me were the way these topics differ in the area of assessment. Individualization measures learning through grade-based/testing , differentiation measures the learning through time based testing with feedback from the teacher and personalization measures the students through independent goals set for the students and they are able to reflect on their learning for mastery of the content. Each of these are beneficial to students in their own way.

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Personalization vs. Differentiation vs. Individualization 

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Personalization vs. Differentiation vs. Individualization 

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https://barbarabray.net/2014/01/22/personalization-vs-differentiation-vs-individualization-chart-v3/

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Chen, E. (2008). The importance of universal design for learning. Usable Knowledge-Relevant Research for today's educators. Retrieved from https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/08/12/importance-universal-design-learning.

McCarthy, B., & Schauer, K. (2017). Journey to Personalized Learning. Bright Future: A Race to the Top -District Initiative in Galt Joint Union Elementary School District. Retrieved October 11, 2018

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I used to believe that by giving students options I was promoting differentiated instruction in my classroom. Whether it be options on how to do an assignment, what type of project to complete, speech or essay, video or reading, that these were a means of accessing student's multiple intelligences. While I believe this benefits students, it is clear that my current implementation is not up to par with what has been discussed and described. In a way, this was difficult to accept.

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I really want to differentiate my classroom more, and also allow more options for individualized learning. Personal learning is still in a space that I would describe as outside of my comfort zone. My school is a very unique place. I believe we have 13 languages spoken in building, 60% of my kids are on free and reduced lunch, my 7th graders come from a building where there is a no homework policy, and my building is set up so that teachers have to have common assessments and grade-books with co-teachers. There are three of us that teach 7th grade U.S. history, so I have to use the same assessments and grade-books as them. The word innovation was used a lot this week, and in my district it proves very hard tom innovate. We don't move like a car, we move like a train. I want to continue to try and break these chains and innovate in the classroom in order to provide more differentiated opportunities for my students.

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There seems to be much more to these three topics than I originally imagined. I personally didn't understand the unique differences between differentiated instruction, individualized learning, and personalized learning. The area I was most interested in was the pros and cons of these different methods. While there was a lot of information about how these styles improve education, I couldn't find research on any negatives or side effects. This might be because of how relatively new these initiatives are, especially with the use of modern technology. The only negatives were the amount of work and time it can take from teachers to set up / transfer to these styles.

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“Technology can help educators deliver differentiated, individualized and personalized instruction. It can help facilitate timely interventional responses, involve parents more in their children’s learning, empower school leaders with data to support teachers, based on the individual needs of the student. It’s up to savvy teachers to connect the appropriate tools with the right students and, in the case of personalized learning, allowing students to make suggestions and control their own academic experiences.”

“Modern learning is the ultimate collaboration between teacher and student. Much like a doctor, the teacher must assess each individual’s needs, then prescribe the right solution for that person by crafting an appropriate curriculum and delivering it in a way that is meaningful. At the same time, students know on some level what teaching-learning style works best for them, and they must contribute to the creation of their personalized curriculum. Today’s educators can better harness the tools required to address a vibrant spectrum of learner differences and create profoundly dynamic educational experiences in their classrooms.”

Personalized vs. differentiated vs. individualized learning. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2018

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Words are meaningless unless all concerned agree on their specific definitions. Even if there is a general consensus on terms, what those terms actually mean in the real world has a tendency to evolve and morph without warning.

Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the field of education. In fact, there are so many "terms du jour" thrown around, tweeted and traded these days that their intrinsic value is often questionable, and confusing. Take the terms differentiated, individualized and personalized. What can we make of these three near-synonyms? Short answer: Plenty!

Modern classrooms are teeming with students of varying interests, backgrounds, abilities and learning needs. To engage these students, learning must be every bit as diverse as they are. In the ISTE/Intel Education book Personalized Learning: A Guide for Engaging Students with Technology (which I wrote with my colleague, Dr. Peggy Grant), we teased out the crucial nuances that distinguish these terms in an attempt to demystify the approaches they refer to so that educators may better initiate more effective learning techniques.

Differentiated learning

Within the context of education, differentiation is a type of learning where instruction is tailored to meet the learning needs, preferences and goals of individual students. The overarching academic goals for groups of students are the same, yet the teacher has the latitude to use whatever resources and approaches he or she sees fit to connect with a student or use practices that have proved successful for similar students in the past.

Regardless of what a teacher decides to differentiate - whether it's subject matter, the learning process or even the environment where learning occurs - differentiation is an awareness of and active response to students' varied learning styles. It involves exercising flexibility in assessment, grouping and instruction to create the best learning experience possible.

Here's how differentiation works: A teacher responds to a student's unique learning needs through the learning process, the educational content, or the specific learning vehicle or product, based on a student's interests, learning profile or readiness.

According to Jennipher Willoughby, a freelance writer and former science and technology specialist for Lynchburg City Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia, teachers differentiate by providing different paths to learning that help students make sense of concepts and skills. They also provide appropriate levels of challenge for all students, no matter their competency. Conversely, teachers do not differentiate by developing a separate lesson plan for each student in a classroom or by merely "watering down" the curriculum for some students.

It's about connecting the dots: linking the academic goals of the curriculum with students' diverse interests and capacities. This takes really knowing the students in your classroom and adapting your curriculum where possible. This also requires the development of a comprehensive plan for how you will use resources and how much time it takes to facilitate differentiated learning and to assess results.

Individualized learning

Instruction calibrated to meet the unique pace of various students is known as individualized learning. If differentiation is the "how" then individualization is the "when." The academic goals, in this case, remain the same for a group of students, but individual students can progress through the curriculum at different speeds, based on their own particular learning needs. This approach serves students who may need to review previously covered material, students who don't want to waste time covering information they've already mastered, or students who need to proceed through the curriculum more slowly or immerse themselves in a certain topic or principle to really "get" it.

The term individualized instruction was coined nearly 50 years ago. Initially, the approach included any teaching strategies that met an individual student's needs, but - in practice - the term describes students working through set materials or curricula at their own rates. With individualized instruction, learning strategies are based on student readiness, interests and best practices. All of this is meant to help each student master the skills they will need as defined by established academic standards.

Personalized learning

Perhaps the most confusing term of them all is personalized learning. Some misuse the term, thinking it refers to a student's choice of how, what and where they learn according to their preferences. Others confuse it with individualization, taking it as a reference to lessons that are paced at different rates to accommodate different students.

Really, personalized learning - at least in our understanding of the term - refers to the whole enchilada: learning that is tailored to the preferences and interests of various learners, as well as instruction that is paced to a student's unique needs. Academic goals, curriculum and content - as well as method and pace - can all conceivably vary in a personalized learning environment.

Unlike individualized instruction, personalized learning involves the student in the creation of learning activities and relies more heavily on a student's personal interests and innate curiosity. Instead of education being something that happens to the learner, it is something that occurs as a result of what the student is doing, with the intent of creating engaged students who have truly learned how to learn.

This method is obviously a far cry from the way that most teachers are traditionally trained to interact with students. Personalization, in addition to responding to students' needs and interests, teaches them to manage their own learning - to take control and ownership of it. It's not something that is done to them but something that they participate in doing for themselves. For teachers, personalized learning is about facilitation more than dissemination.

Since the most effective (and unrealistic) application of true personalized learning would require one-on-one tutoring for every student based on their interests, preferences, needs and pace, personalized learning is often conceived of as an instructional method that incorporates adaptive technology to help all students achieve high levels of learning.

Putting it all together

Technology - when employed properly and meaningfully - can help educators deliver differentiated, individualized and personalized instruction. It can help facilitate timely interventional responses, involve parents more in their children's learning, empower school leaders with data to support teachers, and either break down problems or make those problems more complex, based on the individual needs of the student. It's up to savvy teachers to connect the appropriate tools with the right students - and, in the case of personalized learning, allowing students to make suggestions and control their own academic experiences.

Modern learning is the ultimate collaboration between teacher and student. Much like a doctor, the teacher must assess each individual's needs, then prescribe the right solution for that person by crafting an appropriate curriculum and delivering it in a way that is meaningful. At the same time, students know on some level what teaching-learning style works best for them, and they must contribute to the creation of their personalized curriculum. Today's educators can better harness the tools required to address a vibrant spectrum of learner differences and create profoundly dynamic educational experiences in their classrooms.

This is an updated version of an article that publish on Aug. 5, 2014.

Dale Basye is the author of the books Personalized Learning: A Guide for Engaging Students with Technology, Get Active: Reimagining Learning Spaces for Student Success and the Circles of Heck series for Random House Children's books. He is interested in creative ways of personalizing learning to meet the diverse needs of today's students to help them become better equipped to deal with the challenges of the digital age workplace.

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Personalized vs. differentiated vs. individualized learning

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Words are meaningless unless all concerned agree on their specific definitions. Even if there is a general consensus on terms, what those terms actually mean in the real world has a tendency to evolve and morph without warning. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the field of education.

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Is instruction calibrated to meet the unique pace of various students. This type of learning is usually based on student readiness, their interests and best practices. It is a type of learning to help each student become competent with the content being learned.

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Refers to the whole enchilada: learning that is tailored to the preferences and interests of various learners, as well as instruction that is paced to a student’s unique needs. This is a type of learning where students need to take ownership of their own learning in a sense. This is more of a one-on-one setting within the classroom, something that is not traditional and hard to implement in a public classroom setting with 20-30 students.

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Is where instruction is tailored to meet the learning needs, preferences and goals of individual students. Differentiated instruction is a type of teaching where the teacher takes the time to make sure that their lessons are designed to meet the learning needs of all the individual students in the classroom. They can be seen through many different ways, such as being flexible in assessments given, doing group work, creating meaningful topics of study, project-based assessments.

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Have your thoughts and understanding changed through the conversation?

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Have your thoughts and understanding changed through the conversation?

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In what way? What changed your understanding?

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What are the takeaways from the conversation?

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What are the takeaways from the conversation?

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What are the conclusions for each of the issues and questions we defined?

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How would we apply the information from the conversation to support our professional and personal growth?

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How would we apply the information from the conversation to support our professional and personal growth?