Abstract
The learning personalization concept in the 21st century continues by facilitating learner-driven processes, enabling their agency in proactive learning. The chapter provides a conceptual background and the framework of the student-driven personalization process. It discusses what learning scenarios can motivate learners to become more aware of their learning goals and achieve them by being creators and reflecting experts in their learning. Personalization process expression varies in the learning context, learning environment, and the community where the students reflect and develop personal capacities at different levels, from the choice in knowledge acquisition to designing learning tools and resources and learning process design in cooperation with teachers. Implementing the future classroom learning projects' scenarios revealed their good potential to enable students' autonomy, success, and motivation to create in the learning process and appropriateness to the learning personalization affordance criteria at the higher-order level.
TopLearner-Driven Personalization
The conceptual approach to the student-driven learning personalization process in this chapter is based on the philosophical insights of Mounier (1952), who distinguished between individualism and personalism, which are linked to a person’s openness. He grounded the difference between these concepts through the vector of a person’s life strategies or direction. If the first condition of individualism is the centralization of the individual in himself, the first condition of personalism is his decentralization, to set him in the open perspectives of personal life (Mounier, 1952).
From this perspective, personalization, in general, is a process directed from the inside to the outside and involves a more active role of the subject in the interaction with the environment. The personalization process can thus be observed in many contexts, such as biological systems, social environment, and community. For example, from the perspective of zoopsychology, the initial understanding of personalization is considered an assimilation mechanism of the chosen environment, changing it appropriately (Kull, 2001). Such processes acquired wider social meaning, transforming in various contexts and providing examples of persons’ proactive positions. Frankl (2006) describes one of the most impressive examples of his gaining freedom of choice through a prisoner’s experience, in which he overcomes restrictive external boundaries through personal and even creative input to the prisoner’s community.
With its roots in the philosophy of personalism, learning personalization promotes a transformative shift in student and teacher interaction and their traditional roles. Drawing inspiration from the viewpoint of Mounier, to whom personalism was a contributing drive to personal and community life, Lee (2017) explains the concept of learning personalization as the proactive process of strengthening personal expression in and with the community, e.g., the learning community. The student-centered approach, or support from the teacher to the student, is related to more boundary-setting individualized learning. The individualized approach to education may be considered the initial stage of learning personalization (Bray, McClaskey, 2016) as a level of individual choice explained below. The teacher usually ensures meeting their students’ learning needs or tailoring their learning paths while providing options for the successful learning of individual students.
Key Terms in this Chapter
ICT-Based Learning: Is a learning model where a diverse set of ICT tools is applied for learning activities in real and virtual spaces. In some contexts, ICT has also become integral to the teaching-learning interaction ( UNESCO, 2023 ).
Learning Activities: Are the descriptions of the student’s actions that guide teachers in delivering the approaches described in the scenarios. Learning Activities provide details of the role of the teacher and learner and include ideas for using ICT resources effectively. These Learning Activities are not specific to a certain curriculum but provide opportunities for developing 21 st century skills ( Lewin & McNicol, 2014 ).
Future Classroom Design: Is an inspiring learning environment with innovative pedagogical practices, educational equipment, and technology (Maturity Model reference guide, 2014).
Student-Driven Learning: (Synonymous with learner-driven learning) is an active learning process in which learners dynamically construct and reconstruct knowledge, with motivational, cognitive, and social aspects underpinning their increasing engagement ( Martinetti, 2020 ). Learner-driven learning includes learner agency, teacher agency, and organization agency; students are seen as change agents of learning and teaching ( Watkins, 2017 ).
Personalization Affordance: Is the innovation of the educational process, increasing possibilities for learning personalized practice ( Ignatova, Dagiene, & Kubilinskiene, 2015 ).
Learner Agency: Is a complex, dynamic system of a multitude of interrelated components, which is a result of social interaction, the origin of motivation, and investment in learning ( Mercer, 2012 ).
Individualization: Is the organization of the educational process to achieve individual learning goals, taking into account the differences of the students. It covers all school activities during classes, at home, and in informal activities that the teacher customizes.
Project-Based Learning (PjBL): Is a pedagogical approach that focuses on getting students to explore issues that they find meaningful and that are in line with the latest policy efforts ( Miller & Krajcik, 2019 ).
Future Classroom Scenario: Is a narrative description of learning and teaching that provides a vision for innovation and advanced pedagogical practice, effectively using ICT. A Future Classroom Scenario takes into account issues, trends, and challenges relating them to the current school or educational system; it also provides a high-level description of Learning Activities and resources, describes the roles of learners, teachers, and other participants, and is not limited to the ‘classroom’, thus takes place in any context, environment or place where learning is possible ( Lewin & McNicol, 2014 ).