Project personalization helps learners practice a skill by building something that matters to them. Before they start, Honen asks a few questions about what they want to make, who it is for, and what it should do. Their answers shape the project's instructions and guided steps while preserving its learning goals and grading criteria.
For example, a course can teach everyone how to build a website with AI while letting each learner work on a useful idea of their own: a photography portfolio, a website for their local club, or a page for a small business.
What the learner experiences
1. Choose to make the project personal
When the learner opens a project with personalization enabled, they see Make this project yours. They can select Personalize project or Use the base project to continue with the original task.
2. Share what they want to build
Honen starts a short conversation, usually asking two to four questions to gather enough context. The questions follow the project and the learner's answers; creators can provide guidance about what to ask.
For a Build a website with AI project, the conversation might cover:
| What Honen asks about | Example learner answer |
|---|---|
| What would you like to build, and who is it for? | “A photography portfolio for me, so local families can see my work.” |
| What should visitors be able to do? | “Browse my portraits, read about my sessions, and find out how to contact me.” |
| What should it look and feel like? | “Simple and warm, with large photos and very little clutter.” |
These are illustrative questions and answers, rather than a fixed questionnaire. The conversation can also help a learner describe an app they would find useful, such as a practice tracker for their hobby.
3. Work through a project that reflects their idea
Honen uses those answers to tailor the wording of the existing project. For the photography example, the same website-building steps can become:
| Original project step | Personalized direction |
|---|---|
| Describe the website's audience and purpose. | Describe the families you want to reach and what they should learn about your photography. |
| Build the first version with the Agent. | Ask the Agent to create a warm, uncluttered portfolio with a portrait gallery, session information, and contact details. |
| Review the result and refine it. | Check whether a visitor can browse your work and find how to contact you, then refine the layout and wording. |
The learner still does the work: giving the Agent instructions, reviewing the result, making changes, and submitting the project. Personalization makes that work relevant to their own goal.
Set up the website or app project
- In the course editor, add or open a Use an Agent project. Choose HTML & Web for a website project or Full Stack App for an application project.
- Define the shared learning goal, steps, instructions, and rubric. For this example, learners should describe an audience and purpose, build a first version with AI, and evaluate and improve the result.
- Turn on Personalize per student above the project editor. Your workspace's term for learners may appear in place of “student.”
- Add Personalization guidance to steer the conversation. For example: “Ask what website or app the learner wants to build for themselves, who will use it, what it should help them do, and the style they want. Adapt the existing steps to that idea while keeping the learning goals and rubric.”
- Save the project and publish or apply the course changes so learners receive the updated settings.
You can also ask the course editor assistant to prepare the project:
Create a Use an Agent project called “Build a website that matters to you” using HTML & Web. Teach learners to describe an audience and purpose, build a first version with AI, and review and improve the result. Enable project personalization and ask what they want to build, who it is for, what it should do, and the style they want. Keep the same steps and grading criteria for everyone.
See Create and edit projects for the full project editor workflow. For Full Stack App, learners publish the application and complete its live check before submitting.
What changes for each learner
For a Use an Agent project, personalization can adapt the instructions, the Agent's guidance, and the wording of the existing steps. It preserves the step structure, assets, rubric criteria, and grading weights. The learner's version applies to their project attempt; it does not rewrite the shared project for everyone else.
Project personalization is enabled separately on each supported project. Course personalization controls the context used for readings; enable project personalization when the hands-on task should also reflect what the learner wants to make.
Review before sharing
Open the published course as a test learner and choose Personalize project. Give a concrete answer such as the photography portfolio above, then check that the resulting instructions and steps reflect it and still assess the intended skills. Also try Use the base project to confirm learners can complete the original task.
Return to Adaptive learning in Honen to see how project personalization fits alongside personalized readings, tutoring, additional topics, and review.