Personalizing education is the heart of instruction. It’s also where you’ll find the heart of most teachers.

I will tell you a trade secret that most outsiders don’t know.

Your children’s teachers are incredibly talented at personalizing education. They understand the recursive nature of the curriculum they teach.  They recognize what was taught the year before and what will come the year after. These teachers know how your child learns best, what he or she does well, and what is still needed before going on to the next assignment or the next grade. Furthermore, the teachers know exactly what strategies will get them there.

If your child were the only one in class needing this customization, all would be well. Instead, every child in class needs – and deserves – a personalized education.

The difficulty in teaching is not is personalizing your child’s education. The challenge comes from being able to scale the personalization in meaningful ways that help every student in the classroom.

What is personalized education?

Personalized education experiences evolve out of designing instruction to meet each student at the last point of success in the learning continuum. As overwhelming as it might sound, the tailoring is made easy when teachers enlist technology and artificial intelligence in the process.

Educators want to scale personalized learning through technology must commit to the following:

·       Researching and planning strategies, technology innovations, and procedures for deployment

·       Engaging in professional development opportunities aimed at enhancing student efficacy

·       Accessing robust WiFi networks that support online instruction and the use of tech devices

·       Including a variety of digital media in the classroom

·       Flexible seating arrangements where students can transition in and out of collaborative groups, based on project and assignment.

Additionally, teachers can track student achievement and academic growth using interactive content.

Bringing artificial intelligence into the classroom

The cumulative folders every student generates offer only a slight glimpse of a child’s academic progress. They are, at best, a summary of annual growth.

Teachers collect a formidable amount of information detailing student work and learning outcomes. They collect portfolios, homework folders, notebooks, interactive journals, and more in the pursuit of developing a whole picture of your child.

AI can bring all that information into focus. The data can follow students from year to year, creating a comprehensive picture, and teachers can analyze trends and intervene quickly. Using artificial intelligence in the form of interactive software, teachers can either slow down or speed up instruction based on individual student need.

AI in the classroom has many different roles, and all of them facilitate the teacher’s ability to work individually with your child. Some of these roles include:

·       Adaptive Instruction – Learning programs that rely on AI can respond intuitively to student need, offering reteach and practice or presenting the next lesson.

·       Grading – Multiple choice tests have long been computer graded, but now AI can also scan and evaluate essays. Artificial intelligence is objective and quick.

·       Evaluation and Analysis – Not only does AI grade student work, but it also gathers the data and analyzes it. The data allows teachers to review the effectiveness of their instruction and drill down to individual student need.

It’s nearly impossible for teachers to do all this for every student in the classroom, but AI makes personalized learning not only possible but standard practice. Artificial intelligence assists teachers in scaling instruction for every student in the classroom, including your child.