Guest Commentary: Brookings Institiution on 'Using Technology to Personalize Learning and Assess Students in Real-Time'

Darrell M. West is vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He has just released a paper that looks at personalized learning and to set the stage, he reached back to see what John Dewey had to say about personalized learning.
That's right, John Dewey.
"In 1915, famed educator John Dewey wrote a book entitled 'Schools of Tomorrow' in which he complained that the conventional public school' is arranged to make things easy for the teacher who wishes quick and tangible results.' Rather than fostering personal growth, he argued that 'the ordinary school impressed the little one into a narrow area, into a melancholy silence, into a forced attitude of mind and body.'
"In criticizing the academies of his day," West continues, "Dewey made the case that education needed to adopt new instructional approaches based on future societal needs. He claimed that 20th century schools should reorganize their curricula, emphasize freedom and individuality, and respond to changing employment requirements. Failure to do so would be detrimental to young people. In one of his most widely-quoted commentaries, Dewey predicted that “if we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.' "
Dewey's words still hit the mark with many edtech reformers.
In his paper, West examines new models of instruction made possible by digital technologies. "Pilot projects from across the country are experimenting with different organizations and delivery systems, and transforming the manner in which formal education takes place.
"By itself, technology will not remake education," West writes. "Meaningful change requires alterations in technology, organizational structure, instructional approach, and educational assessment.[iv] But if officials combine innovations in technology, organization, operations, and culture, they can overcome current barriers, produce better results, and reimagine the manner in which schools function."
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