Personalised Learning: A Case Study in Teaching Clinical Educators Instructional Design Skills

Personalised Learning

A key characteristic of personalised learning is that the student is located at the centre of the learning process. Personalised learning meets the individual learning needs of a diverse range of students whilst encouraging independent learning (Johnson, 2004) through learners taking greater responsibility for their own learning and through learners being more actively engaged in the learning process (Hannafin & Land, 1997; Ong & Hawryszkiewycz, 2003). It is the design of a particular type of learning environment “shaped by its foundations and assumptions about learning, pedagogy and the learner” that provides the conditions for personalised learning (Hannafin & Land, 1997, p. 197). For example, teachers can facilitate personalised learning by adopting teaching strategies that meet the needs, abilities and aptitudes of each student thereby providing for an individual learning pathway (Sun & Williams, 2004). This can be achieved through shifting responsibility from the teacher to the student for discovering, organising, analysing and synthesising content (Brush & Saye, 2000; Downes, 2005). Such strategies can maximise student motivation and attainment so that students realise their full potential (Johnson, 2004). However, the role of the educator remains crucial if students are to succeed (Hannafin & Land, 1997) with the educator fulfilling the necessary roles of facilitator and mentor (Johnson, 2004; McLoughlin & Lee, 2007; Ong & Hawryszkiewycz, 2003).