Designing Your Own Learning

At the beginning of this school year, I came across a delightful social media trend: people creating their own personalized curriculum—not for credit or a grade, but for the joy of learning. (Shoutout to my friend Knikole who shared this buzzy idea with me!) Lifelong learners are building month-long or even semester-style study plans on everything from botany to bookbinding. This CNN article offers a glimpse into how people are turning their passions into intentional learning experiences. Search #PersonalCurriculum or #CurriculumClub, and you’ll find hundreds of creative examples.

As I followed along, I noticed two key themes emerging: heutagogy and curation. I couldn’t help but think about how these concepts connect not only to our own learning journeys but also to the work we do as professional learning designers. This post will explore how embracing heutagogy through intentional curation can fundamentally shift professional learning from a prescriptive model to a deeply personalized, educator-driven experience.

Another Learning “-gogy”

As leaders of professional learning, we often talk about the difference between pedagogy and andragogy. Pedagogy refers to how we teach children, and the experience is typically instructor-centered. Andragogy, a term coined by Malcolm Knowles, describes principles of adult learning, including the need to know, readiness to learn, and motivation to learn. (This video explains each concept.)

But there’s a third “-gogy” that’s particularly relevant to the personal curriculum trend: heutagogy, which refers to self-directed learning. In heutagogical models, learners have full autonomy over their paths, resources, and reflections. That’s exactly what’s happening in the #PersonalCurriculum trend. Whether someone wants to learn crochet, AI, or how to build a website, they’re choosing their goals, finding resources, and shaping their own experience.

(This blog post and this chart offer helpful comparisons between pedagogy, andragogy, and heutagogy. And this video will help you pronounce heutagogy!)

But what really caught my attention was how much curation was embedded in these personal curriculum plans. Each person wasn’t just learning. They were designing their own learning. And that design process is rooted in intentional curation.

Curation is Learning!

In The New Pillars of Modern Teaching, Gayle Allen describes curation as a core element of modern learning, and she breaks it down into three parts:

• Scanning: Intentionally selecting relevant information (in any format)

• Sense-Making: Organizing, annotating, summarizing, and tagging information

• Sharing: Creating meaning and putting content together for a wider audience

That’s exactly what learners are doing when they design a personal curriculum. They choose the resources that work for them (scanning), they take notes, filter ideas, and synthesize what matters (sense-making), and they do something with it, whether that’s through blog posts, podcasts, portfolios, projects, or online updates (sharing).

(And if you read part 1 of this series, you may remember how knowing your learning preferences makes this process even more effective.)

Curation isn't just about selecting content; it's about intentional design. As professional learning leaders, we constantly use this curation lens to design the learning experiences: we scan for timely research and resources, sense-make by structuring the flow of the learning experience, and share through thoughtful facilitation.

Now, here’s the key pivot: That same level of intentional design that we use to craft experiences for others should also be applied to our own professional journeys.

Start with Yourself: Own Your Professional Growth

Like many others, I enjoy taking courses, reading widely, and seeking out experts to help me grow. But what intrigues me about the #PersonalCurriculum trend is how systematic and intentional these self-guided learning journeys are. People are creating schedules, gathering supplies, curating resources, and sharing their learning timelines. 

I’ve also noticed that instructional designers and educators are joining the conversation, offering tips to strengthen these efforts, like how to write meaningful learning outcomes or incorporate retrieval practice to make the experience more impactful. One goal of the #CurriculumClub is often to swap out mindless scrolling or TV bingeing for more joyful, intentional learning.

I’ll admit that my own approach to personal learning has been more haphazard. But thanks to a strong understanding of my learning preferences (from last month’s post), I know what works best for me: the time of day, formats, social settings, and environment. Still, I’ve never fully designed a curriculum with multiple resources, a timeline, and a clear outcome. That’s what I’m excited to explore now.

Since I know I thrive in heutagogical spaces—those defined by learner agency, self-efficacy, and reflection—I’m eager to create a formalized plan that truly mirrors those principles. One topic I keep returning to is how we deliver information to others, especially through nonverbal communication: presence, movement, voice, and breath. (I started exploring this topic here.) I’d love to build a personal curriculum around this interest, using books, podcasts, videos, expert examples, and hands-on practice to better understand and apply what I learn.

Reflect and Connect

• What’s one topic you’ve been curious to explore more deeply, and what three resources would you curate to begin your personal curriculum?

• In your own learning, which part of the curation process (scanning, sense-making, or sharing) could you strengthen to make your next learning journey more impactful?

If we believe in this level of intentionality and ownership for ourselves, then our work shifts from providing learning to empowering it. How do we support our colleagues in designing their own learning paths?

Supporting Educators in Their Own Learning Path

This shift to a heutagogical approach (where educators design their own learning) isn't just about individual motivation. It’s about reimagining the systems and supports that surround professional growth. If we want educators to design empowering and personalized learning experiences for students, they first need space and support to do the same for their own professional growth.

“Many of the teachers finally admitted that they didn’t have experience and frankly were unclear about how to chart their own professional learning, let alone how to set up and guide the personalized learning of others.”

—Katie Martin, Learner-Centered Innovation

One way I’ve experimented with this idea is through EmpowerED PD, a self-paced summer learning experience where participants chose a topic connected to broader goals (like district initiatives or professional standards), curated their own learning resources, and documented their growth in a portfolio using Google Slides. They had choice. They had voice. And most importantly, they had ownership.

The outcomes were rich, reflective, and aligned. These educators weren’t just learning about something. They essentially created their own curriculum. They selected what mattered to them, created meaning from it, and shared their learning in authentic ways.

So what if this approach weren’t the exception?

What if personalized, purpose-driven professional learning became the norm?

Reflect and Connect:

• What existing structures in your organization already support educators in designing personalized professional learning?

• What is one tangible tool or template you could create to help educators shift from consuming professional learning to intentionally curating and designing their own paths?

This model of ownership and design shouldn’t end with adults. What might this look like for students?

Looking Ahead: The Future of Personalized Learning

Personalized learning, where we are catering to the needs, interests, and preferences of individuals, is the type of learning I see as essential to the future of education. Many classrooms are already making strides with structures like genius hour, inquiry-based learning, passion projects, and even well-designed choice boards. When students are given autonomy and voice in their learning, they’re more likely to engage deeply and meaningfully.

Technology also plays a role in expanding access to personalized learning. While many edtech companies promote the potential of AI to tailor content and feedback, its true impact depends on how it’s guided. As of now, it still takes a thoughtful designer and a skilled educator to create learning environments that are both personalized and purposeful.

As Gayle Allen writes in The New Pillars of Modern Teaching, “Teaching students how to leverage technology for learning lets them own their learning. In fact, giving them skills that produce empowerment and engagement may be the most valuable lessons we teach.”

Just like teachers need systems that support self-directed growth, students do too. And just like educators are curating their own learning experiences, we can empower students to become curators of their learning journeys as well.

The key to this transformation is mindset and design. Creating the conditions for self-directed growth requires us to let go of control and trust the learner's path. This is a call to action for us, as professional learning leaders, to design the systems that empower curiosity, agency, and meaning in every stage of the learning journey for our colleagues.

The challenge ahead isn't only about offering choice; it's about teaching the skill of curation. By empowering educators and students to intentionally scan, sense-make, and share their learning, we transition from delivering professional learning to cultivating lifelong learning designers.

Further Learning

If this post sparked ideas for designing your own learning, here are some recommended reads that expand on these concepts:

• The New Pillars of Modern Teaching by Gayle Allen

• The Startup Teacher Playbook by Michelle Blanchet and Darcy Bakkegard

• Learner-Centered Innovation by Katie Martin

• Personalized Professional Learning by Allison Rodman

• DIY PD by Katie Toppel, Tan Huynh, Carol Salva

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Kathryn Laster brings over 30 years of education expertise as a math teacher, instructional coach, and digital learning consultant. Now, as an independent consultant, Kathryn creates and facilitates transformative learning experiences through intentional, human-centered, tech-infused design.

For a deeper dive into her reflections about curation, check out her companion post: Curating for Learning.

Connect with Kathryn here and at Refined Learning Design.