Adaptive Learning Technology

As a Teacher of Students with Autism, I have a self-contained classroom and I have students that are in the general education setting. My students range on the spectrum from being nonverbal and low-functioning to high function students taking honors classes. That being said, when I read the NMC Horizon report, the discussion about personalized learning certainly piqued my interest. The report (NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition, 2015, p. 26) states, “Personalized learning refers to the range of educational programs, learning designs, instructional approaches, and academic support strategies intended to address the specific learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds of individual students”.   Looking at the individual needs as far as Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals, this really struck a chord with me! Addressing not just learning needs, but looking at interests and cultural backgrounds….perfect!

As I continued to read the report, the emerging trend that struck me was Adaptive Learning Technologies.  Reading about how “contemporary educational tools are now capable of learning the way people learn; enabled by machine learning technologies, they can adapt to each student’s progress and adjust content in real time or provide customized exercises when they  need it”,  I immediately visualized one of my students logged onto one of the classroom desktops.  What a solution for a student whose exceptional learning need thrives with structure and working individually! I saw a solution to the challenge of me trying to address instruction with the incredible range of abilities in my room, and I saw a way to keep students engaged during the times I am working with behavior concerns.  The article grasped my dilemma: “Teachers rarely have the capacity to design curricula and assignments that uniquely cater to every student (NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition, 2015, p. 42).”

The fact that these adaptive learning technologies would allow me to monitor progress and generate data in the form of “comprehensive dashboards” was a selling point for me.  One of the challenges I face is generating data to develop Present Level of Performance (PLEP) information to develop effective and meaningful IEP goals for my students.  This would undoubtedly be an incredible asset in that area. I also thought of my colleagues with their large class sizes, and found the NMC Report’s discussion of a school in New York where there are 150 students in a math class, and with adaptive learning technology, the teacher could develop a lesson to help 20 students still struggling with multiplication.  I thought, too, of my colleague working with ELL students and reflected on how this could help with students struggling with specific skills.

I put together the following Infographic to reflect some basic information:

 

Since developing the Infographic, I have discovered a number of companies using Adaptive Learning Technology.  The list includes:

ALEKS Corporation

Carnegie Learning

Cengage Learning

eSpindle Learning

Grockit

Knewton

Desire2Learn

PrepMe

Smart Sparrow

I am looking forward to learning more about these specific platforms.  I would really be interested to hear from other educators about their thoughts regarding adaptive learning technology, and any experience(s) they have had with the technology….Please share!

 

References

Adaptive Learning. (2016, January 20). Retrieved from Dreambox.com:            http://www.dreambox.com/adaptive-learning  Fleming, B. (2014, April 1).

Adaptive Learning Technology: What It is, Why it Matters. Retrieved from Eduventures: www.go.nmc.org/altech  Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2015).

NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.  Riddell, R. (2013, October 31). http://www.rde.nsw.edu.au/files/2015/07/2015-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN-1wviwa0.pdf

Adaptive learning: The best approaches we've seen so far. Retrieved from educationdive: http://www.educationdive.com/news/adaptive-learning-the-best-approaches-we've-seen-so-far/187875