Quantitative research on personalising learning and wellbeing in open-plan up-scaled learning communities; Challenges in researching attempts to personalise learning

This project aimed to evaluate attempts to personalise learning in six regional Australian schools with predominantly low SES students, including four schools with open-plan up-scaled learning communities (see chapter 1). Achieving this aim posed significant interlocking conceptual and methodological challenges. The main conceptual challenge entailed characterising what should count as personalised learning and wellbeing, and why. The main methodological problem was how to track and explain students' perceptions of teaching and learning processes, and their academic and wellbeing outcomes on these questions over three years in these new settings, taking into account salient influences. In this chapter we report on (a) the development, validation and implementation of a survey, the Personalised Learning Experience Questionnaire (PLEQ), to monitor students' perceptions of the extent to which their learning environment was personalised, and (b) quantitative data on student attendance, wellbeing, and academic performance in English and mathematics over the three years of the study (2011-2013).