New Study on Adaptive Learning at U of Central Florida and Colorado Technical U!

Dear Commons Community,

Adaptive learning is moving into the mainstream of higher education.  We are moving beyond the hype of companies that market instructional software and beginning to see bonafide research on the implementation of adaptive learning at colleges and schools.  One such study:  Dziuban, Charles; Moskal, Patsy; Johnson, Constance; and Evans, Duncan (2017) “Adaptive Learning: A Tale of Two Contexts,” Current Issues in Emerging eLearning: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 3, is available as a free download at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/ciee/vol4/iss1/3

The summary abstract reads as follows;

“This paper presents the results of student reactions to adaptive learning at two universities with considerably different contexts: a large public institution and a for-profit, professional university. A student response protocol developed by and administered at the University of Central Florida (UCF) was also distributed to students at Colorado Technical University (CTU). Demographic comparisons of the two responding sample groups indicated considerable differences in student characteristics, especially with respect to age and work status. However, a factor invariance comparison revealed that students at both universities evaluated the adaptive climate similarly though the lens of learning environment, guidance path and progression. When the factor scores for the institutions were compared, CTU students responded more favorably to the guidance component of adaptive learning while UCF students perceived that the adaptive learning system provided a more effective learning environment. Students who were clustered by whether or not they would reengage with adaptive courses, showed a positive and somewhat more ambivalent group. The authors concluded that adaptive learning with its flexibility and variable time component is a possible solution to the scarcity problem in our educational system, addressing students with too many needs and too few resources. The authors contend that adaptive learning could help to level the educational and economic playing fields in our society.”

I found the article quite useful in bringing me up to date on adaptive learning. The research procedures used in this study were first-rate.

Give it a read!

Tony

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