Personalized learning for the developing world: issues, constraints, and opportunities

Abstract

Personalized learning carries significant promise in improving the state of education in developing countries. However, much of the personalization technologies have evolved in the context of the developed world. In this chapter, an expanded definition of personalized learning for developing countries is presented. Capital and human resource constraints and information and communication technology (ICT) affordances in developing countries to support personalized learning are also discussed. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory is proposed to define a wider context for personalized learning for developing countries. In addition, McKinsey’s staged maturity model is suggested as an analysis framework to explore various types of personalization opportunities in school systems of the developing world. The conclusion is that significant amount of work needs to be done to effectively implement personalized learning in the developing world due to unique human, capital, and ICT constraints. However, many new research opportunities to address these issues have also been identified.