A personal tutor who can interact with you with infinite patience, who knows your level of comprehension of concepts being learned or assessed for. An untiring teacher who will review with you a lesson as long as you totally fathom it and only then move forward, who is ready to skip a topic if you have prior understanding of it. This seems a far fetched dream of every student, however technology always attempts to provide humans with what they themselves can’t.
Adaptive learning is a working concept realized with technology which analyses learner’s skill level through advanced machine learning and creates a self learning environment for each student. In simplest words it is a personalized learning path carved for each student, it saves time and effort if you already know the lesson, and puts extra effort and time to make you comprehend a lesson, if there is a need. It’s a learning technique centered around the interests and needs of each individual learner as opposed to universal standards. Rapidly adopted by schools and universities across the developed part of the world, adaptive learning is touted to revolutionize education in future.
While adaptive learning technology is an aspect of high-caliber learning management systems or lms like iPublishCentral Learn, its implementation in classrooms and elearning is a part of the overall learning strategy of the concerned institution/ department/ class. The practice may not work well for all subjects, age groups, learning strategy etc, however it extends the application of ‘differentiated instruction’ as an education philosophy for effective teaching, so that all students within a classroom can learn effectively, regardless of differences in ability.
In large public schools, classrooms are bigger and students show varying levels of aptitude, this results in inconsistent learning outcomes and teacher burnout in some cases. Personalized learning carves the necessary learning path for each student, it works with an individualized timeline and effort. The feedback loop and levels of task work to bring each student at the desired proficiency, by allowing more practice and review for those who are lagging behind.
Learning in social environment is not free of inhibitions for students, varied intellect and social restraints among students make it difficult for them to fully involve and interact, technology enabled learning attempts to provide a democratic learning opportunities for quiet and reticent students. The little private space with personalized learning environment – it works as a personal guide tailored for your unique learning requirements.
Technology has been pervading into education since the information technology revolution, and it lately has been evolving into a hi-tech industry. It’s not about projectors or computers, it’s a strategic overhaul of how education in delivered. It requires infrastructural and resource expansion which is not feasible for all economies. Hesitation towards new technology is a natural tendency, just like it took almost half a decade for electricity powered factories to take off after successful demonstration, it will be only after some time to see the outcomes and streamlining of edtech globally. Adaptive learning will be one of the leading practice with its potential of delivering equal and individualized opportunities to all – a personal tutor for the mass, a great equalizer in education.