In my classes of Portuguese literature and grammar, this is possible to do in both items. I can give differentiated sheets of grammar exercises or can ask to a student who is an expert on grammar to help his colleague in his work on grammar, for example.

In my practice, I mainly revert to the first mode, because the second requires a synchronization of the students among them that I can never get. Each student has too different rhythms from others, and then I see that they do not really like peer comparison / competition.

Teachers could keep everyone truly involved in the standards-based or skills-based learning. 

If students are working together in a small group, and each student has different interests and skills, it is more likely that they collaborarate, because they will show and discuss their points of view and negotiate stategies and goals. 

Being so, students tend to collaborate naturally and at the same time they are developing important soft skills.

Students get to know better their strengths and weaknesses and this way they grow up more confident and able to rely on others’ and self efforts to achieve a goal.

I think peer learning and teaching is very effective. 

 

Working in groups , students exchanged ideias and this is importante because they have different abilities, so they can help each other to accomplish the aim by joining their abilities. With homogeneous groups, I can perceive and clarify the doubts of certain types of students without disturbing the development of others, always encouraging the development of the autonomy of each one.

If we explore these strategies simultaneously, we will empower our students in their personalized learning process for sure.

When students are working collaboratively, they will discuss and negotiate between them. As they gain confidence and become involved in the system, they feel more comfortable in the group, they will be able to choose the role they wish to play, according to their abilities and tastes. This will allow you to achieve personal and group goals. Therefore, depending on the role they choose to play, students perform personalized tasks and personalized learning, while attaining the goals and recognition of their peers.

The classroom space itself can also be altered to allow for personalized learning through effective collaborative work on small islands.

To empower my students in their own learning I think I should respect more what they already know, so that I can let them teach things to their peers accordingly to their interests and capacities. This way they can be organized in small groups, formed by similar interests that could prepare some presentations to the others. This way the whole class will learn with the contributions of the various small groups that exist in the classroom.

 To empower students in their own learning we must respect their learning style and give them option to foster their growth. In order to do that we can use collaborative learning to help them acquire some of the important social skills, such as respecting different opinions, helping each other, listening to the others, negotiate, among others that in turn will prove invaluable to set personal goals for learning, self assess their processes and results and make them resilient enough to overcome hurdles and "fight" for their personal learning objectives.

 

Collaborative learning can also provide opportunities for each student to reveal him/herself as one of main contributors to the project they are involved in. Besides by having students with different skill sets and knowledge, they can influence each other´s personal learning paths and still come together to achieve a common goal and even create a final group product.

Teaching through dialogue enables teachers and students to build on ideas in sustained talk. When teaching through dialogue, the students are encouraged to listen to each other, share ideas and consider alternatives; to build on their own and others’ ideas to develop coherent thinking; to express their views and to help each other reach common understandings.
Personalised learning means adapting educational provision to meet the needs and aspirations of individual children. It is not about individualised learning but about building independence through interaction, intervention, stimulation and collaboration. 

 

Every time I have the students work in groups, I can personalize learning because I will work with each group more directly and focus on their characteristics. Students, themselves, can express more freely and in contexts where it is highly possible that lack of time, shyness or self-consciousness are not an issue. In collaborative context students must take control, which means they must develop personal skills, make decisions, identify their needs, find answers to their problems and develop autonomy and critical thinking. There is nothing more personalized than giving students the chance of becoming self-aware and independent. 

It is not easy to implement though, specially when students are still not experienced in doing things this way. It takes time and effort to help them build their self-confidence, show them they can overcome obstacles and that learning stands exactly here: in the process of working out how to get to the other side on our own! 

                Connecting personalized learning to collaboration may seem awkward. However, as no one lives alone, students can understand how they own learning can help others and develop to a higher standard with the help of others. To learn students need to interact with their peers, negotiate, discuss and value the perspectives of others. For students, collaboration is a synonym of positive class experiences, motivation, engagement and self-efficacy. 

            Of course, the teacher has a major role in helping students develop their personal path in the learning process while collaborating with others:

-          the teacher can scaffold collaborative tasks by modelling strategies for sharing responsibilities while still including everyone in the overall process;

-          promote independence by making students aware that they can rely on ech other for support;

-          utilize student expertize by letting students use their knowledge to help other students overcoming their difficulties;

-          establish clear guidelines with the students’ help to create a sense of community in the classroom;

-          model conflict resolution;

So all these strategies show us a clear link between personalized and collaborative leaning.

Teachers can apply both collaborative and personalised strategies to help empower students in their own learning, providing student reflection and group projects, for example.

I can apply the characteristics of both approaches in order to enable my students in their own learning, helping them to adapt the prior knowledge they bring and adapting the activities to the groups and each student (at their own pace and needs) .

Both approaches develop autonomy, flexibility, mutual aid and communication. The skills of some students are improved in such a work. In a traditional classroom this aspect may go unnoticed.

The teacher, in these approaches, is a facilitator, guides / corrects, points paths.

I try to combine these two approaches. Already in this module, as in an earlier module, I refer to the approach of collaborative learning, with a personalised approach. Possibly, I have not explained this relationship very much, but it is always underlying.

Learning situations, initial information, feedback and assessment are adapted to these approaches.

In my opinion, we may implement both types of learning because they complement each other. We can develop projects where students work together, share tasks, assume responsibilities, enlarge their knowledge, helping their peers while respecting their own timing and interests.

    In my classes the students work in small groups, from the beginning when we plan the work is asked to identify their doubts and as I go around each group help not only the group but also help the students with difficulties, this help is many times given by colleagues with higher skills.

Students will feel more in control of their own learning process and they will feel that the teacher/ the facilitator cares about each one of them.

Personalised learning and collaborative learning can be interlinked and influence one another.  When students are working with their peers they can improve their weakest skills and contribute to group work with their best ones. In a small group it’s easier for the teacher to pay individual attention to students than if he is working with the whole class. 

Whenever we promote collaborative work we should assign different tasks or roles to students within the group according to their skills. Students can benefit from a multi-level skilled group if they are asked to contribute in different ways. So it’s important teachers know well each student’s potential and learning style. 

It is important that clear guidelines are given to the group so that each one knows what he/she is expected to do. Furthermore their participation should be evaluated by the other members of the group at the end of each lesson. Students should reflect on their progress as they develop their work and always be encouraged to improve. It’s important to create moments when students just sit to talk about what they have achieved, their strengths, their weaknesses and difficulties. 

I can apply both approaches by creating different spaces in the classroom, adapting them to the needs of my students. The collaborative works can be prepared according to the degree of development of the groups.

Collaborative learning is critical to developing a set of interpersonal skills such as effective communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, decision making, leadership, personal responsibility and teamwork. Learning activities are designed to integrate as much as possible these competencies so that they are internalized by the students. Working on a joint project requires high thinking skills such as problem formulation and resolution, critical reasoning and the ability to provide others with constructive feedback, to be able to move forward. This is often impossible without the input of many people.

Personalized learning encompasses pedagogical strategies that do not follow a standardized orientation, but promote individualized student development. This approach starts from the understanding that students are not uniform and homogeneous, since each individual has characteristics, talents, limitations, previous knowledge and interests. Each student learns in a different way and, mainly, at a proper pace.

I believe if we organize groups with varied skilled students, the personalized learning can occur even when the teacher is not with the group. Students help and support each other. They have to mutually search for understanding, solutions, or meanings, or create a product and so they need to collaborate. 

Thus, personalized learning can be more effective with collaborative learning...

·      when a teacher organizes flexible spaces that facilitate monitoring and is attentive to students' work; 

·      when the groups are also organized in such a way that all the students have a role to play, and they are all essential and co-responsible for the final product; 

·      when the students adapt the pace to the elements of the group, after they are given a checklist and deadlines and can work as they decide.

·       Learning process is student centered;

·       The activities must be meaningful and diversified;

·       Teachers’ assessment must be throughout  all the learning process and should be discussed with the students;

·       Co-planning learning is important for the students to realise what weaknesses and strenghts they have;

·       Teachers should give feedback of the students’ learning progress;

·       Work in a flexible pacing.

 

In my opinion, during the scholar year teachers work in several ways and with different strategies. Knowing  the students’ interests to motivate them is the main focus all over the learning process. I prefer to begin with personalised learning, with individual or peer work, and then, when the students feel  comfortable and know already  each other, we can organise group-work. It is very important that: a)the activities/projects/topics are meaningful; b)the group members can decide how they are going to reach the goal; c)each student should see his coleague as a resource to achieve the personal learning goal, because if one achieves his goal, then does the group. 

Whereas there is not a single general intelligence or potential, but different potentials many different processes should be developed to expression and appreciation in order to respond to the multiple intelligences and promote a holistic education. This custom is also learning through a process of observing each child, their characteristics and needs which results in search of different proactive responses, whereas differentiating assumes appropriate and flexible management challenges to propose to the group of children. In this perspective, there is an opposition to the uniformity of content and practices, thought crucial to an inclusive school for all. As such, the personalized learning and collaborative learning are intrinsically linked. A way to enhance the creation of individual and significant paths of learning and, in this way the progression of each child is, enabling the development of group collaboration-rich moments, moments that allow the exploitation of the knowledge that the children already have, their interests and their needs. In this process, the adult takes on the role of a facilitator of learning, as well as possible to develop more moments of individual support.

As it was said in the video, if students are working alone, the teacher hasn´t much time to help lower skilled students individually, while when they are working in groups, they learn from each other. 

Besides, if some can work more autonomously, the teacher can spend more time helping and answering the questions of the lowered skilled ones, taking into account their personal characteristics and interests, thus personalizing their learning.

However, collaborative learning is more than working in group. It requires working together towards an end product. With it we can gradually release control to the students, encouraging them to collaborate with others to become more autonomous and confident learners at the same time. 

To be successful, collaborative learning must be set in a positive environment, be carefully planned and students must fully understand the objectives, the skills involved, the research to do and the activities to carry out towards the final task. Each  student  must also know what role he/she has in the group, and this should be defined according to his/her interests and needs.

 The use of positive reinforcement and the respect for everyone’s opinions is crucial to encourage risk taking, leading to meaningful group and personalized learning, as students feel free to give their own contribution, to discuss and get to conclusions together. 

It’s easier and gainful for both the students and the teacher to approach smaller groups and explain/work the issues they need (especially for students with lower skills). Meanwhile, other group’s peers can work collaboratively for themselves. Like this, we can respect the individually rhythm and develop the skills and the competences they need to learn.

When students work collaboratively and in a personalised learning process, they achieve better results and the success that we all want. 

The teacher will also be able to better facilitate the work within each group and support individual Ss more easily.

Establishing small groups oriented according to the doubts or interests that they have in learning, creates fruitful links between the two approaches and allows answering at the same time to several questions of the same. The strategies referred to in the “Collaboration for Personalized Learning” article, especially those break the ice and initial mobilization, are quite relevant: model roles and functions in the group, promote interdependence, use students' skills, provide clear guidelines and guidance, finally mediate to resolve conflicts.

From the observation of the videos of this module and reading this article, it is clear that the collaboration needs the customization to happen, without it does not exist.

In my opinion, collaborative learning is perfectly compatible with personalized learning. When a group of students work autonomously, according to rules and guidelines established by the teacher, with all the tasks and responsibilities properly assigned, students with lower skills feel integrated and easily discover that they have more capacity to learn than they thought. The remaining elements of the group, by helping them, are transmitting their knowledge in a personalized way, allowing the teacher to support other students in need. By feeling that peers and the teacher are attentive to their work and their evolution, these students feel more motivated, overcoming even some behavior problems that could reveal and harm their learning.

Personalized learning and collaboration are related because in a personalized learning environment, teacher can help students discover what individual roles they can successfully assume when collaborating with others. On the other hand when using collaborative learning strategies, teachers can in fact be personalized learning by directing their teaching to each individual student, as did the teacher in the video.

I would say I prefer mixed-ability groups because “lower-skilled” students can always learn something from their peers, they may feel more comfortable (if group members are friendly and supportive) and they can even find their hidden skills or strengths. If they feel they are well integrated in the group, effective collaborative learning can happen. It’s up to the teacher to choose the best approach to each learning situation, depending on the content, the class or the activity.

 The articulation between collaborative and personalized learning can be achieved through, for example, the organization of groups of relative homogeneity, that is, forming groups of students by level of proficiency. Grouping students according to their abilities and needs, allowing them to tailor assignments, personalizing them to the interests and needs of the students, as well as giving the teacher greater availability to support students who need extra support.

Even in working with heterogeneous groups, we can foster a personalized learning process, through, for example, assigning / differentiating roles within each group, with tasks adjusted to the characteristics / needs of the students, to their learning styles, where each one can contribute their own abilities, enriching themselves and complementing each other.

The articulation of collaborative and personalized learning is possible in group work, project work or research, in which each student constructs their own knowledge by posing questions and responding to them. These learning modalities allow to improve the conditions with which the knowledge is acquired, since it increases the interest and the student's involvement in the activities. Students can achieve better results as they learn to develop study techniques, technology skills and learn to collaborate in a group. In addition, creativity and curiosity is also fostered.

These two learnings favor student confidence and safety, since knowledge is built from what they already know, the pace and structure are given by them in a way that they have a pleasant experience, inspiring them to learn through I like the content. There is a development not only of learning skills, but also of individual and social skills, because when working with other colleagues they learn to interact and collaborate with their peers, exponentially increasing their knowledge. There is a well-known phrase, "Let's go faster, but together we go further," so that in a group the students will be able to reach more complex skills. 21st century students are expected to be able to find problem-solving strategies that consciously apply in a variety of contexts

I think the best way to apply these two approaches to my students is to first get to know them well. Then specify the objectives of the lesson, explaining the success criteria; organize the space and determine the size of the groups and their constitution, assigning the tasks and roles to each student. At the same time, the teacher must be attentive to group work in order to help students with difficulties, monitor behavior and intervene whenever necessary (for by personalizing learning you can make learning more equitable, removing obstacles). We should always praise the positive behaviors and success achieved, encouraging them not to give up, that is, empowering students and saying "yes you can".

Subsequently, together, the teacher and the students should reflect on the work developed, in order to analyze and discuss the best aspects and, finally, synthesizing the subjects treated within each group.

 

Javier Sancha groups students according to their skills/competences so that he can assign more complex questions to the higher-skilled ones leaving him more time to support the weaker ones in a more personalised approach. Although I consider this strategy to have great potential, I prefer grouping the students randomly in mixed-ability/skilled and heterogenous groups where everybody can learn from everybody. In fact, my experience has taught me that peer tutoring is a must in today’s classrooms and a success and happiness guarantee to effective learning.

Undoubtedly, collaborative and personalized teaching/learning approaches go hand in hand and it’s up to the teacher to guide the class, to make the best of these worlds meet, and to empower students through the most adequate methodology.

Mixing these two approaches has several advantages. On one hand, if students are doing collaborative work, each small group is learning on their own way, using their own strategies and sharing each one’s ideas. On the other hand, the teacher has more free time to dedicate to the students who need more. Not being a teacher centered approach, it allows the teacher to help students in a more personalised way.

I think that envolving students in projects, working in groups, is an excelente way of personalising learning and at the same time developing all the skills that collaborative work implies. 

idiosyncrasy

is contributing to collaborative learning.

Having mixed groups can have good results but teachers have to pay attention as not all students can react well to this strategy 

I can make both approach’s that way student´s will be more autonomous in their work because they work with their peers and have a time to work with the teacher in small groups 

Providing collaborative learning opportunities is one educational strategy that could help meet a wider range of student learning needs and interests and develop important skills (both skills-based learning and soft skills). Collaborative learning has been associated with a range of benefits for students, from enhanced motivation to a deeper understanding of core concepts.

I think peer learning, or at most with 3 or 4 students, is the most effective.

As students choose to plan the project, they are exploring many skills and different forms of learning. In this model of collaborative learning, the projects provide an opportunity for students to understand these skills. In this learning process we can include:

• Issues or scenarios, covering relevant content;

• Investigations that allow students to ask and restate questions;

• Products that allow students to learn;

• Collaboration among students, teachers and others in the learning community;

• Technology for collecting, analyzing, communicating and preparing students' documents.

Design-based learning environments promote personalized learning. These environments create opportunities for students to explore and solve the world's problems in the classroom. Content and process become inseparable during the discovery and investigation phase of learning. Thus, students remain constantly involved in investigating the problem, identifying gaps in their knowledge, searching and analyzing the information they need to solve problems, and developing their own solutions.

Na aprendizagem colaborativa os alunos desenvolvem habilidades sociais e o sentido de responsabilidade. Esta aprendizagem permite que todos os tipos de alunos aprendam ao seu ritmo. 

A aprendizagem personalizada favorece: 

o reconhecimento e a compreensão conjunta da natureza do problema,

  a comunicação, a negociação e troca para um plano para abordar o problema, 

a ação coordenada para realizar o plano

 acompanhamento do processo

Ambas as aprendizagens são possíveis de utilizar em conjunto. Num ambiente de aprendizagem personalizada os professores podem ajudar os alunos a descobrir qual o seu papel individual que podem assumir com êxito ao colaborar com outras pessoas.