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Volume Two - Academic Conferences

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6. Conclusion and recommendations<br />

Zaffar Ahmed Shaikh and Shakeel Ahmed Khoja<br />

This study provides teachers’ personalized learning skills ranked on highly desirable scale. The results<br />

suggest that apart from teachers’ skills, nature and complexity of their tasks are the key issues<br />

while guiding students forming a PLE. The importance of the skills and competencies may vary depending<br />

on the education environment particularly related to the personalized learning model being<br />

implemented. It was concluded that teachers do not necessarily require excelling in all the skills proposed<br />

by this study, however, they need to become involved with the relevant skills set and show<br />

their willingness to change; they will then develop and become entrenched in these new fields of<br />

learning. Additionally, it is also concluded from the results of this study that all these skills should be<br />

considered in the curriculum for staffing and training of teachers.<br />

The recommendations that could be made based on the results of this research are: (a) teachers<br />

need to become involved with the skills; they will then develop and become entrenched, (b) teachers<br />

who adopt personalized learning in their pedagogies and practices may be rewarded at institutional<br />

and management level, (c) courses that emphasize on forming students’ PLEs may be offered to students<br />

so often, (d) teacher training programs may incorporate the skills set identified by this study as<br />

a framework, and (e) teachers are offered to learn in environments similar to those we expect our students<br />

to learn in.<br />

Further research might identify the level of knowledge, skills, and attitude needed for different types of<br />

learning pedagogies and for the different instructional delivery models. Furthermore, research is also<br />

needed to identify the knowledge, skills, and attitude making up these personalized learning skills and<br />

competencies of teachers. More specific teacher training programs could be offered that target the<br />

perceived knowledge, skills, and attitude required of these skills set. In addition, research that determines<br />

the level of skill mastery needed for the different competencies may also be carried out. Due to<br />

the rapid changes in educational and communication technologies, it is recommended that repeated<br />

studies are required that identify teachers’ skills for PLEs.<br />

Acknowledgements<br />

The researchers would like to extend their gratitude to the participants’ of this Delphi study who have<br />

made this project possible.<br />

References<br />

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Isaac, S., and W. Michael (1995) “Handbook in Research and Evaluation”, 3 rd ed. San Diego, CA: Educational<br />

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Lubensky, R. (2006) “The present and future of Personal Learning Environments”, [online] Blog Entry,<br />

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McLagan, P. (1989) “Models for HRD practice”, Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development<br />

768

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