Mark and I (Rie) have developed an OER on Personalized Web, which can be accessed using the link here.
In the OER, we have included visualization and Padlet so that you can engage with the content.
Below are the questions to consider as you go through the OER:
- If you were to implement personalized learning in your classroom, would you see yourself using algorithm-based personalization or rule-based personalization, and why?
- Which personalized algorithm between Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter (X) do you find the least problematic?
- Tell me the time you implemented personalized learning in your classroom. What worked and what didn’t work?
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Great OER! When it comes to the type of personalized learning, I lean toward using rule-based personalization in the classroom. As a teacher with targeted learning outcomes, I would prefer having a clear understanding of what content students are engaging with and why certain learning paths are being suggested. As mentioned in your resource, rule-based systems allow educators to design structured “IF-THEN” pathways that connect directly to curriculum goals and assessment outcomes. For example, if certain students are struggling with balancing chemical equations, the system could prompt a video and some guided practice. I believe it would be beneficial for these students to receive the same educational video and practice as other students in order to remove any ambiguity that might come from a system that might offer differential treatment.
Also, I would be cautious about relying on algorithm-based personalization due to issues like hallucination and the lack of transparency in how decisions are made. In a science classroom, where accuracy and conceptual precision are crucial, even small errors in automated feedback could reinforce misconceptions.
In my classroom, I’ve implemented personalized learning using MagicSchool AI. This is a platform that allows teachers to make accounts and create Chatbots that students can interact with. For instance, when completing the Romeo & Juliet unit with my English Studies 8 class, I created a Chatbot in MagicSchool that provided students with information about life in Verona, the play’s setting. Students were then instructed to ask the Chatbot (Romeo) about life in Verona for various social classes, women, and young adults seeking to marry. The Chatbot responded in Romeo’s tone, providing more information as it was prompted. Students enjoyed engaging with this, and they were able to instruct the Chatbot on what they wanted to learn about and how the Chatbot presented this information. For instance, if a student was having difficulty understanding what the Chatbot was writing, they could ask it to “simplify” the language, so that the wording was easier to understand. This made learning more personalized, engaging, and exciting for students as they got this information in real-time and were able to interact with the Chatbot as if it were a figure from Shakespeare’s play. However, one difficulty with this was that some students needed to be more specifically instructed on how to prompt the Chatbot at each step of the way. Some students weren’t able to interact with it beyond a few prompts, think of more questions, or understand what it was saying. So, they needed continuous teacher guidance to interact with the Chatbot, limiting its ability to be personalized to all learners.
Overall, it was a positive experience for myself and my students, and allowed me to work independently with the few who needed further assistance. However, there are still limitations when it comes to making these tools appropriate and accessible for diverse learners.