ABSTRACT
Personalization in education is a loaded term. While personalization is accepted in the Finnish Model, elsewhere its definition has been co-opted by various movements, each seeking to bend it to a narrow definition that is really standardization in disguise. Personalization can help develop character, competencies, skills and core knowledge for each individual, including teaching students how to live and work together. A personalized education must balance the need for critical learnings with the desire to explore personal interests, hobbies and passions. Personalized learning is more than a few catchphrases and cool technologies. In order for personalized learning to fulfill its potential, the entire system needs to be thoughtfully aligned with the focus on students learning to know, do, be and live together. Technology will play a critical role in providing teachers the tools for a humanistic personalized education. Technology allows teachers and students to access specialized materials well beyond textbooks, in multiple formats, with few constraints on time or space.
