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Personalisation and Digital Technologies Seminar Series
2004/2005 seminar series
Introduction

        


Introduction

This seminar series was developed as a collaboration between Futurelab, Demos, Becta and Toshiba in order to map out the contours of a future personalised approach to learning and to examine the potential applications of technology within this landscape. It brought together researchers, practitioners, developers and policy makers to explore different models of personalisation, learner voice and new approaches to assessment.


Outcomes

Provocation papers and reports from the seminars are available in this section, while the final report and Learner's Charter can be found in the research section.

Go to final report...


Provocation papers and reports

Seminar 1
Learner Voice: How can technology be used to support learners to shape and direct their own curriculum?
Read Seminar 1 provocation paper
Read Seminar 1 report

Seminar 2
Designing Learner Environments: The virtual and the real - can technology help students shape their learning environment?
Read Seminar 2 provocation paper
Read Seminar 2 report

Seminar 3
Assessment, Technology and Learner Voice: How can we involve young people in determining the focus and means of assessment systems?
Read Seminar 3 provocation paper
Read Seminar 3 report


What do we mean by personalised learning?
By Matthew Horne

There is a lot of enthusiasm for the idea of personalisation, but people are seeking clarity about exactly what it means.

The reason for this strange mix of enthusiasm and confusion is partly because people put forward definitions of personalised learning at five different levels of generality:

Values, aims and purposes
These definitions are political and value-laden. They include a new social democratic settlement that reconciles excellence and equity; high standards and fairness. These ideas are often expressed in educational rhetoric including: fulfilling individual potential, meeting individual need, and achieving high standards for all.

Outcomes
These definitions focus on the kind of learner the system is trying to create. They include independent learners, learners who control and manage their own learning, learners engaged in their own learning, learners who understand their own learning, learners who take decisions and choices about their own learning, effective or powerful learners, and learners who achieve high standards.

Policy principles
These definitions focus on principles to inform policy-making at all levels in the system. They include choice, voice, customisation, specialisation, communication and new relationships. Interestingly these are principles that clearly apply beyond education.

Educational principles
These definitions focus on the supply side of education, most notably curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, organisation, community and parents, and the nine gateways to personalised learning (Hargreaves). The language used in relation to all of these concepts includes tailoring, bespoke, differentiated, flexible, pathways, responsive, diverse. One discrete aspect of these ideas is concerned with the different needs of different learners, how they are assessed and how the system responds to them.

Ways of working
Finally these definitions describe ways of working that would characterise a system that fostered personalised learning. These include: partnerships with parents and learners, parental engagement, collaboration between organisations, new relationships between the levels in the system and whole school approaches to personalised learning.


Attendees

James Arnold-Baker  
Helen Aston  
Bob Banks Tribal Technology
Richard Barber NCSL
Amanda Black Becta
Barbara Chillman National School Grounds Charity
Guy Claxton Bristol University
Lorna Cocking Pearson Education
Mary Curnock Cook QCA
Rajeeb Day ESSA
Sara deFreitas London Knowledgelab
Eileen Devonshire DfES
Patrick Dillon University of Exeter
Jonny Dyer Ultralab
Ken Dyson Ofsted
Keri Facer Futurelab
Ben Gammon Science Museum
Bruce Goddard Canons Connect
Hannah Green Demos
Briony Greenhill  
Jamie Hewitt Demos
Matthew Horne DfES
Peter Humphreys Personalised Education Now
Karl Jaeger International School of America
Jean Johnson Ultralab
Diane Matthews-Levine Becta
Jane McGregor NCSL
Martin Lange  
Hannah Lownsbrough Demos
Gavin O'Carroll Makemode Ltd
John Plunkett Cornwallis School
Owen Richards Demos
Martin Ripley QCA
Mark Rooney Spacemakers
Tim Rudd Becta
Michelle Selinger Cisco
John Siraj-Blatchford TLRP
Sharon Wright SchoolWorks
Shelagh Wright Demos
Chris Yapp Microsoft

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