Creating a Personalized Learning Environment in the Classroom

This online course provides an overview of current pedagogical, psychological and philosophical theories and approaches, accompanied by a large practical block on the design of personalized learning environment in the classroom.
The broad goal of this course is to spread relevant pedagogical solutions to a wide range of teachers. An important element of the course is the practical block, providing clearly presented recommendations and guidelines for creating personalized learning environment in the classroom, including tools and techniques to provide individualized instruction.

Changes in professional style do not occur revolutionarily, it is an evolutionary process. Each week students would be given lectures, readings and practical tasks to redesign their lesson plans to make them more personalized and student-friendly. Each lesson gives an opportunity to implement methods in their daily teaching routine or to redesign the whole teaching process.

This distance course is for:
– Students of pedagogical education programs (Bachelor's degree, Master's degree)
– Middle and High School Teachers
– University Educators
– Tutors and instructors in social and educational enterprises
– Tutors

• Theoretical bases and principles to create personalized learning environment in the classroom
• In the first week, we will take time to review pedagogical, psychological, and philosophical theories and techniques that provide the basis for designing a personalized learning environment. Based on the results of this module, you will be able to explain the prerequisites and features of personalized learning.
• Curriculum design, Instructional strategies and Learning outcomes
• This week, we focus on the learning outcomes through two lenses: from the teacher’s perspective and from the student perspective.
  
  Educators have some pillars for their work: state educational standards, teaching materials, syllabus etc. But what do the students come with to the lesson? Do the students understand the learning outcomes written in the «educator’s» language? No. And no one really teaches students to understand this language. Therefore, to start teaching learners to reflect on their education, we need to translate these categories from teacher-oriented to student-friendly language, in other words, at the end of this week, you will take the first step to creating student-friendly materials».
• Understanding the mechanisms (drivers) of competence formation
• This week, we'll look at several educational approaches so you can see how a well-designed course can differ from a set of classes. Keep in mind that no matter how interesting and exciting your lesson materials are, these tools don't work if we choose them based on the "tool for tool's sake" principle.
• Assessment and progress maps
• This week we will remember and talk about an important component of any course – assessment. Which methods work best for personalization?
• Managing a personalized lesson environment
• This week is dedicated to practical issues. It contains materials dedicated directly to the development of a student-friendly curriculum . In this way, you will be able to put into practice the theories and approaches covered throughout the course.
• The criteria for the program evaluation. Final project. Course overview.
• The final week of the course is devoted to professional reflection of the teacher and improvement of the developed materials.