Personalisation through Technology-Enhanced Learning

Introduction

There is a growing awareness that one-size-fits-all approaches to school knowledge and organisation are ill-adapted both to individuals’ needs and to the knowledge society at large. To move beyond uniform, mass provision can be described as “personalisation” of education and of public services more widely.¹

This quote is the introduction to an OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) publication (OECD, 2006) that illustrates the growing importance being placed on the concept of personalised learning. This is evident in the increasing reference to this and related terms in national and international policy documents (NSF, 2008; DfES, 2006; Becta, 2008; European Commission, 2008). This chapter will consider the discourse of the concept of personalisation and how it can be supported through technology-enhanced learning. This introduction will look at the policy rhetoric and consider to what extent it is realised in practice. It will describe a range of illustrative examples of how technologies are being used to meet the personalised learning agenda.