computers and personalized learning

The leader of Norsk Lektorlag, Gro Elisabeth Paulsen, emphasizes that the situation in the Norwegian schools today are far form a perfect in regards to personalized learning. Computers are being used in a sort of pseudo-personalized learning, that on a superficial level looks like personalized learning, but in reality is nothing of the sort.

It is impossible for a teacher to provide an individualized program for each of the 180 pupils a full-time teacher is normally responsible for. But the law requires that they do that. In order to manage, the pupils spend a lot of time working on their own or in small groups, especially when they are working in front of computers. The students work on their own, and the teacher walks around, supervising and helping if and when the pupils get stuck. The idea here is that when the teacher is standing in front of the class teaching, it is impossible or at least very hard to provide personalized learning. When the pupils are working individually with a computer, they can all work at their own levels. They can challenge themselves at exactly the right level. Unfortunately, reality has shown that they don't. How much is being learned is totally dependent on the activity of the pupil, and the result is that the top 30% of the students do okay, most of the other pupils don't learn much, and some pupils leave school after not learning anything at all. Gro Elisabeth Paulsen argues, that what has happened is not that the learning has been personalized, but that the teacher has given up teaching. [NRK P2, Søndagsavisa, November 5, 2006]

This situation is a stark contrast to how Finnish schools are run. The Finns skipped the 30 year long process of trial and error with different types of reform pedagogy (Dewey), and they have also had fewer challenges with immigration. Finnish teachers have higher status, longer education, relatively high salaries, and they have kept to traditional pedagogy. The end result is that Finland is on top of the PISA studies, and Norway is just average.