Personalised Learning Profile: Understanding Students' Diverse Backgrounds

What is a Personalised Learning Profile? Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr Mah Boon Yih initiated the Personalised Learning Profile to facilitate instructors' personalised learning. It collects the learners' biographical data, understands their academic backgrounds, tests their proficiency levels, and identifies their learning preferences. The data obtained from the submitted forms can benefit learners of all ages and instructors of any subject.

A. Personalised Learning Profile 2.0

Personalised Learning Profile 2.0 is its next version, built on Microsoft Forms, with an enhanced design and additional features. It collects additional data on the learners' online distance learning (ODL) readiness, biographical data, academic backgrounds, proficiency levels, and learning preferences to summarise the essential characteristics of a learner. Below are the five sections found in the Personalised Learning Profile 2.0.

a. Biographical Data

There are many kinds of information you want to know about your learners. As an effective instructor, you can use biographical data to get to know your learners, most of whom are strangers, at the beginning of the semester. Once familiar with your learners' names, genders, ages, hometowns, and contact numbers, it may be easier to use a messenger application like WhatsApp to set up a group for easy communication and file sharing with your learners.

b. Academic Background

Looking at the students' academic backgrounds, such as degrees of study, programmes, courses, classes, and past academic results, instructors can understand whether their learners need academic attention or further assistance. Besides knowing your students' biographical information, knowing them academically can help weak learners understand the subjects.

c. Proficiency Levels

Besides the biographical and academic backgrounds, the next crucial aspect is the learners' proficiency levels. A learner's proficiency reflects how he or she functions in the real-world language through multiple proficiency in the English language, including vocabulary, grammar, reading, and listening. Before conducting assessments in a language classroom, the language instructor should measure students' proficiency levels at the outset to benchmark their learning progress.

d. Learning Preferences

The next component of the Personalised Learning Profile is the identification of learning preferences. Click HERE to learn how learners can help themselves by understanding their learning preferences, as measured by the Personalised Learning Profile. Based on the myriad theoretical models used to determine what the learners prefer in their learning process, an instructor can choose what works best for them. This can save plenty of time figuring out the best way to deliver your lesson and the content you want to teach using various methods to reach all students.

e. Online Distance Learning (ODL) Readiness

To understand the learners' readiness and the problems they face during the ODL session, some important aspects need to be identified and addressed before the beginning of the semester. These include the learners' current location, the status of returning to campus for the current semester, internet connection issues, other related ODL problems, readiness to use Microsoft Teams live meetings, and preferred ODL platforms other than Microsoft Teams.

B. Form Submission Steps Solutions

You may use the Personalised Learning Profile 2.0 as the sample in your classroom. Below are the simple steps to answer and submit the form:

1. Click Start now.

2. Complete items 1 to 3 in the Welcome! Section.

3. Click Next.

4. Complete items 4-9 in the Biographical Data section.

5. Complete items 10 to 16 in the Academic Background section.

6. Complete items 17 to 20 in the Proficiency Levels section using the given links, and state your CEF level after completing the test. Each test must be attempted ONCE only in full concentration. It is advisable to take screenshots of the test results pages after completion for future reference.

7. Complete items 21 to 24 in the Learning Preferences section by choosing only ONE from each pair of dichotomous learning preferences as indicated by a longer bar in the comparison chart from the result page; for example, choose one between sensing and intuitive, one between visual and verbal, one between active and reflective, and one between sequential and global. Make sure the total selection is only four. It is also advisable to take a screenshot of the questionnaire results page after completion for future reference.

8. Complete items 25 to 28 or 33 in the Online Distance Learning (ODL) Readiness section.

9. Click Submit once confirmed to submit.

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