Inevitable Mass Customized Learning: Learning in the Age of Empowerment

Schwahn, Charles & Beatrice McGarvey. Inevitable Mass Customized Learning: Learning in the Age of Empowerment. 2012. 231p. ISBN 978-1-4700-5905-7.

The industrial era of education, when 25 students were placed in one classroom with one teacher, was designed for the convenience of administrators, teachers, and parents, and not for that of the student. Before the information revolution, this system, though inadequate, met most learners’ needs. But with the arrival of customization thanks to platform such as Apple’s iTunes, Amazon, and eBay, it is not only possible, but advisable to move away from a late 19th century model of education into a 21st century model where the educational system is designed to allow every student to succeed at his or her own pace while meeting the same educational objectives.

Shawahn and McGarvey argue that today’s information infrastructure enables schools to personalize learning for every learner. Subjects that can be easily taught on computers need to be, so that teachers, now called learning facilitators, can focus on the interpersonal, social, civic, and foundational skills that cannot be taught online. Grade levels and seat times are things of the past. Each learner will now be expected to master eight to ten learning outcomes, all composed of sub-skills, during their educational careers, and demonstrate their acquisition of these learning outcomes through a portfolio. As learners progress, they move at their own pace and group with different learners.

Learners will take about 50% of their subjects online, attend seminars for more subjective classes, participate in labs and other hands-on activities, and plan their sport practices. The learner will be in charge of his or her own scheduling, in collaboration with parents and a guidance facilitators, and will be empowered to succeed on an individual course of learning. The age of mass customization is here, and it’s time for education to join the future.