#ONE VISION ONE PURPOSE PROFESSIONAL#

#ONE VISION ONE PURPOSE PROFESSIONAL#

Unfortunately, this is not what we generally see when we hear about personalized professional learning.

Instead, it should blend teacher interests with a collective purpose. Personalized professional learning need not be individualized. This enables teachers to collaborate with one another and garner support on personal goals from fellow educators. Professional learning should be meaningful and relevant to individual teachers in the context of helping all teachers unite in a collective consciousness of professional learning. Models for personalized professional learning must account for this. We usually find meaning and relevance through the opposite of individualization: identifying a greater purpose than ourselves, seeking camaraderie, and making human connections. Instead, it must be meaningful and relevant to any given learner. The reality is that personalized learning need not be individualized. This type of thinking leads us to believe that teachers should learn only what they want to and when and where itвЂ™s convenient. They assume that the more distinct and separate learning is for each individual, the more personalized it will be.

People often confuse personalization with individualization. When we do so, we become liberated by balance and have the opportunity to make professional learning meaningful and relevant. It is important to challenge these myths and develop approaches that honor both the individual and collective. These myths make the workload of personalization unsustainable and create divides between teachers instead of the collaboration educators really need. Those myths include the assumption that personalization necessitates large investments in technology and the erroneous belief that it must look different for every educator. Educators deserve professional learning tailored to their needs, but far too many models for personalization are built on a faulty foundation of myths.

One vision one purpose