Now *this* is personalised learning.
This is Sal Khan, who founded the site khanacademy.org. Khan Academy is an organisation which aims to teach the world for free - through high quality videos on YouTube. It's disruptive, it's effective, and we're going to be seeing a whole lot more of this style of learning in the future.
There are now tools and networks in place which allow people to share, teach, and learn from each other - and they're starting to realise the potential and joy that this brings. Personalised learning and differentiation, in many schools, simply means the teacher making a few extra worksheets and putting some largely meaningless differentiated learning outcomes on the board. This kind of online teaching and learning on the other hand, allows students to choose their teacher, the pace at which they progress, and the order in which they learn material. It is truly personalised in every sense of the word.
Of course, real-life relationships will always be at the heart of education. But we need to start thinking about how we can blend these new types of teaching and learning with them, based upon what works best for the different parts of the learning process. Of course, online learning really comes into its own for students who aren't in mainstream education - and as a disruptive innovation, this is where its growth is likely to begin.
