In the Fall of 2014, several universities came together to offer a unique "dual-layer" open online course. This course was designed with two complete layers from two different course design modalities (instructivism and connectivism). Learners were granted the freedom to create an individualized pathway through the course involving…

The purpose of this article is to highlight the benefits to both organizations and individuals in adopting heutagogy within management education to develop individual capability. This conceptual paper is based on a systematic review of the literature relating to heutagogy and learning theory. This article calls for the adoption of heutagogic…

This article introduces a special issue comprising research on efforts to personalize learning in different academic subjects. We first consider the emergence of personalized learning (PL) and the myriad of definitions that describe its essential features. Thereafter, we introduce the articles in the special issue by examining their alignment to…

Students tend to comprehend little and lose focus of classroom instruction when their teachers fail to use instructional strategies that match students' learning styles. Differentiated instruction can alleviate or eliminate this disengagement. This article describes a case involving a child having difficulty learning and shows how…

By integrating the best of current research and practice in curriculum planning this book presents that comprehensive topic in a manageable form. Examples throughout are representative of different grade levels and subjects areas. It should be understood at the outset that the content offered for curriculum planning is not a rigid prescriptive…

Content and emphases in undergraduate biochemistry courses can be readily tailored to accommodate the standards of the department in which they are housed, as well as the backgrounds of the students in the courses. A more challenging issue is how to construct laboratory experiences for a class with both chemistry majors, who usually have little or…

It is essential that children who are deaf-blind have learning experiences that improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, even when educational teams work together to create individualized education programs, these students do not always have full and equal opportunities to learn. This issue of "Practice Perspectives" describes the basics of…

Today's classroom differs greatly from the classroom a decade ago. This is due, in part, to the changing demographics of students across the United States where diversity is now the norm. As children enter the educational system with diverse backgrounds, they are exposed to new experiences that facilitate changes in interests, behaviors, and…

The universal design for learning (UDL) approach to teaching, a method to create access for all students, can be extremely effective when adequate time, energy, and creativity are spent to apply it. The purpose of this article is to encourage the use of the universal design for learning approach to ensure the successful inclusion of all students…

Teachers today must meet the needs of a variety of learners. In addition to the broad array of cultural differences and varying disabilities teachers encounter, their classrooms reflect a wide range of abilities among the "typical" students. Regardless of the reasons, teachers today find that the large-group "one-size-fits-all" lesson is not…

In many U.S. prisons an overuse of individualized instruction silences literacy learners and reinforces oppressive notions about what knowledge is and whose knowledge counts. In these classrooms, methods that invite learners to tap their background knowledge, reflect on their worlds, and dialogue with others to construct meaning--commonplace in…

The idea of a personal style in learning has grown during the past decade to dominate teacher discourse in the UK. The theory supporting this idea is work in understanding cognitive and learning style. A recent review of learning styles for the Learning and Skills Development Agency in the UK has been widely publicised and is deeply critical of…

As stipulated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004, preschool children are provided with access to the general education curriculum when they are in settings with children without disabilities and when their learning outcomes are met in these settings. In this article, we describe how access can be achieved through a…

Malcolm Knowles laments the paucity of "thinking, investigating, and writing about adult learning" in the opening sentence of his theoretical framework of "Andragogy" (1998, p. 35). Knowles' central argument is that we learn differently as adults from how we learn as children, so we should tailor adult education accordingly. Knowles highlighted…

Reviews intelligent tutoring systems and introduces social theory as an alternative to individual learning theory that has served as a basis for intelligent tutoring system development. Discusses social processes and learning, collaborative learning and intelligent tutoring systems, and the need for a revised architecture for intelligent tutoring…