How Personalized Learning Helps Students

Aug 05, 2022 • Enrichment

Is personalized learning the key to helping struggling students succeed?

Unlike the traditional teaching and learning model, personalized learning puts students in the driver’s seat of their own learning. Traditional teaching and learning centre around a one-to-many model with one teacher for many students.

Most parents will have already experienced the struggles connected with the traditional model. In a large group of students, is it possible for every student to be able to learn at the same pace as the rest of their classmates? The answer is no. 

Every student learns differently and at their own pace: a group learning environment where students learn an idea or grasp a concept at the same time as their classmates can cause struggles for students who are not learning at the same pace. In the traditional classroom, an otherwise bright student can miss a concept and fall behind. This can create a cycle of poor grades and low confidence that can be challenging to overcome.

Personalized learning helps all students

By eliminating the one-size-fits-all approach, personalized learning programs focus on student individuality. Rather than leading a group of students through the same exercise, the personal approach allows students to take control of their learning, with their needs, skills, and interests guiding the pace and intensity of their education.

There are three main factors guiding a student’s personalized or customized programs:

1. Customization: whether it is reading a Shakespearean novel or completing a unit on fractions, customized learning programs help students reach a specific goal using their unique learning needs. A student could be a visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic (or another type) or learner; customization allows both student and teacher to work according to the student’s needs.
2. Pacing: a major struggle for many students is that the class will move on to a new subject before they have had a chance to fully grasp the current topic. Pacing allows students to spend as little or as much time as they need on a concept before moving on. Pacing also helps students from feeling frustrated or bored with their learning.
3. Goal-Setting: with personalized learning, students are able to set their own learning goals for themselves. Whether the goal is to not fail the next test or to get the highest mark in the class, students work toward their own unique goals. Incorporating their interests and preferences into the learning help keeps students motivated to achieve their goals.

Start with an Assessment

Identifying students’ unique learning needs is the starting point for all personal learning. All customized programs at Oxford Learning begin with an in-depth assessment to determine each student’s individual learning needs. The assessment provides the details behind how a particular student learns, which allows educational professionals to design a program to match those needs.

Personalized programs are critical to Oxford Learning’s success with students of all ages. Once students realize they have the skills necessary to complete a task, their effort increases, they try much harder, and they start to see success. Pulling that out is the objective at Oxford Learning: to help students of all ages have those “a-ha!” moments necessary to spark a lifelong love of learning.

Contact your local centre today to learn more about how Oxford Learning can help your child learn with a personalized program best suited for their needs.