JOLR Special Issue: Blended and Online Practices for Personalized Learning
The abundant variation among K-12 learners has driven a decades-long effort to prepare teachers to differentiate instruction. Some claim differentiation is poorly practiced, or at least too overwhelming to effectively implement in a heterogeneous classroom (Westburg, et.al. 1993; Westburg & Daoust, 2003; Loveless, Parkas, & Duffett, 2008; Hertberg-Davis, 2009). Optimizing a unique education for each child through differentiation appears an unsustainable ideal in public education settings. However, hope among stakeholders grows with advances in educational technology, assessment systems, learning management systems, and student information systems. Personalized learning has become the latest in a long history of promising educational revolutions, but will this one make a lasting impact?
There is no shortage of interest in personalized learning as can be seen in plentiful references within educational innovation grants, books, educational conferences, and educational consultancies (Pane et. al., 2015). In 2013, the International Association of K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) shifted their focus from K-12 online learning to focus on personalized learning, as evidenced by their body of work since that time (Patrick, Kennedy, & Powell, 2013; Patrick, 2015; Patrick, Worthen, Frost, & Gentz, 2016; Patrick, Worthen, Frost, & Truong, 2018). Such a dramatic all-in approach implies a tight connection between K-12 online learning and iNACOL’s conceptualization of personalized learning (Patrick, Kennedy, & Powell, 2013). Additionally, the 2017 National Educational Technology Plan maintained personalized learning and blended learning as key strategies to technology’s transformation of all schools across the country (US Dept. of Education, 2017). Furthermore, Christensen Institute’s definition for blended learning includes elements of personalized learning, specifically that blended courses are required to provide “some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace” (Staker, 2011, p.5).
However, debate still boils around the fundamental definition of what personalized learning is. At the same time practitioners persist to invent and implement practices aligned to unique conceptualizations of personalization, which results in confusion and vastly varied practices. So what is the connection between personalized learning and K-12 blended and online learning? What practices are teachers doing that effectively demonstrate this approach, and how are teachers being prepared to enact them?
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this special issue of JOLR is to generate empirical and theoretical literature that informs how blended and online instruction support personalized learning in K-12 environments and teacher education.
Possible Manuscript Personalized Learning (PL) Topics May Include*:
Assessment in Personalized Learning Environments
Assessment of Personalized Learning Implementation
Best Practices for Personalized Learning
Case Studies of Personalized Learning
Theoretical Conceptualizations of Personalized Learning
Education Skills & Dispositions for Personalized Learning
Educator Preparation for Personalized Learning
Implementation Barriers in Personalized Learning
Models of Teacher Preparation for Personalized Learning
Personalized Learning featuring Blended Strategies
Personalized Learning in Hybrid Environments
Personalized Learning in Online Schools
Quasi-Experimental Studies of Personalized Learning
Readiness Factors for Personalized Learning
Stakeholder Perceptions of Personalized Learning
Teacher Practices in Personalized Learning Environments
Validation Instruments/Studies
*All submissions must align with the purpose stated above Submission Guidelines: Please submit manuscripts directly through the AACE submission link below. http://www.aace.org/publish/?fuseaction=Authors.BeginSubmission
Do not send manuscripts to the Guest Editors. The manuscripts must go through a double blind review process.
Note: Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project. Authors are encouraged to contact the Guest Editors to propose an idea for submission to ensure the appropriateness of the proposed manuscript for this special issue.
Guest Editors: Anissa Lokey-Vega: anissa.vega@kennesaw.edu Stephanee Stephens: stephanee.stephens@kennesaw.edu
Deadline for Submissions: October 1, 2019
Targeted Publication Date: Spring 2020
References
Burr, B., McCULLY, T., & Wicker, K. (1970) Personalized learning: using unit approach to curriculum design. Middle School Journal, 1/2/3, 34-37. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.kennesaw.edu/stable/23022757
Friend, B., Patrick, S., Schneider, C., & Vander Ark, T. (2017). What’s possible with personalized learning? An overview of personalized learning for schools, families & communities. iNACOL.
Hertberg-Davis, H. (2009). Myth 7: Differentiation in the Regular Classroom Is Equivalent to Gifted Programs and Is Sufficient: Classroom Teachers Have the Time, the Skill, and the Will to Differentiate Adequately. Gifted Child Quarterly, 53(4), 251–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986209346927
Loveless, T., Parkas, S., & Duffett, A. (2008). High-achieving students in the era of NCLB. Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Pane, John F., Elizabeth D. Steiner, Matthew D. Baird, & Laura S. Hamilton. (2015). Continued progress RAND Corporation. doi:10.7249/j.ctt19w73mb
Patrick, S. (2015). Trends powering personalized learning. Educational Technology, 55(2), 56- 59. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.kennesaw.edu/stable/44430361
Patrick, S., Kennedy, K., & Powell, A. (2013). Mean what you say: Defining and integrating personalized, blended and competency education. International Association for K-12 Online Learning. NETP: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education: 2017 National Education Technology Plan Update, Washington, D.C., 2017.
Patrick, S., Worthen, M., Frost, D., & Gentz, S. (2016). Promising state policies for personalized learning. International Association for K-12 Online Learning.
Patrick, S., Worthen, M., Frost, D., & Truong, N. (2018). Innovation Zones: Creating Policy Flexibility for Competency-Based Personalized Learning. Issue Brief. iNACOL.
Staker, H. (2011). The rise of K-12 blended learning: Profiles of emerging models. Learning. Innosight Institute. Retrieved from http://www.christenseninstitute.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/04/The-rise-of-K-12-blended-learning.emerging-models.pdf
Westberg, K. L., & Daoust, M. E. (2003). The results of the replication of the classroom practices survey replication in two states. The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented Newsletter, 3(8).
Westberg, K. L., Archambault, F. X., Dobyns, S. M., & Salvin, T. J. (1993). An observational study of instructional and curricular practices used with gifted and talented students. In in regular classrooms (Research Monograph 93104). Storrs: University of Connecticut, National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.
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