The affordance of differentiated learning looks into the fact that “Every learner does not have to be on the same page at the same time nor complete the task at the same pace nor do they even need to be doing the same task.” Differentiated instruction is an approach to teaching that acknowledges people have multiple paths for learning and for making sense of ideas (Scalise, 2007). This differentiation in learning, through the many varied, personalised or adaptive strategies, can help achieve the goal of education focusing on the most important aspect of it – knowledge production. As researches suggest, then “The instructional decisions being made based on the differentiation approach could have substantial consequences for the learner (as cited in Scalise, 2007).”

This opens avenues for the learners to engage, interact and vocalise their experiences thus bringing in the factor of diversity in the means, process and patterns of learning. This helps in making sure that every individual is equipped to face the future while at the same time taking into consideration their likes and preferences too. All of these are doable and feasible in the digital space, be it tailoring the content, the learning goals, needs, outcomes, experiences and instructions to the needs of the learner or the dissemination of the said content.

The digital ecology in which the e-learning materials are built upon also have another very useful functionality – it helps to track the performance of the learner and this data helps in many ways, not only to understand, realise and tweak the course to bring out iterations that are more effective than the ones before but also aid in adapting and personalising the courses, to suit the needs of a said individual learner. And this in turn also ensures the engagement of the learners. As (as cited in Scalise, 2007) indicated by experts, “If the assessment approaches are being made formatively, or in other words to guide instruction during the process of learning, then differentiating the challenge level, types of formats, representations and feedback (Black and Wiliam, 1998, Black et al., 2002) might make a difference in how or how much the child or adult learns. Information can also be used summatively, or in order to make a judgment about student learning, such as the appropriate course placement or who gets access to what educational opportunities (Resnick and Resnick, 1992).”

These “… affordances, constitute an agenda for new learning and assessment to reframe the relations of knowledge and learning, recalibrating traditional modes of pedagogy in order to create learning ecologies which are more appropriately attuned to our times.” (Montebello, Pinheiro, et al., 2018) Meaning, the course content is drafted and designed with the learner in mind. More specifically, the focus in current times is at “learning platforms where learner’s expectations, motivation, learning styles, habits and needs are increasingly taken into consideration” (Ennouamani & Mahani, 2017).

Clearly, this approach moves away from the top-down communication or the “one-size-fits-all” mindset that was predominant earlier (because, logistics) during the development of teaching, learning and training materials. That leads us to the concept of adaptive learning. According to Vandewaetere & Clarebout (2014), “the increase in Information Communication Technology (ICT) and its tools (read: e-learning) has led to increased attention for personalized learning and instruction. By means of personalized learning, or adaptive learning, learners are given instruction and support directly, adjusted to their cognitive and noncognitive needs.” In the same resource, I happened upon the 4 dimensions of adaptive learning which I would like to discuss next. But to put it in simpler terms, “adaptation is the ability of a system to alter its behaviour according to the learner’s needs and other characteristics” (Ennouamani & Mahani, 2017).

Four-dimensional perspective on adaptive learning

Here is a brief description of the four dimensions of adaptive learning. According to Vandewaetere & Clarebout (2014), first is the ‘source of adaptation that discusses ‘adapt to what’ which can focus on the learner parameters like learning style, characteristics, outcomes or the interaction between the learner and the system. The next dimension they discuss takes into consideration the aspect of the ‘target’ which takes into consideration the content, its difficulty levels, the number of tasks, the time, etc apart from the aspect of ‘presentation’ and ‘instruction’ or the way of guidance.

The third dimension of adaptive learning refers to ‘time’, that is when that adaptation should take place and finally the dimension of ‘method’ which deals with the question ‘how to adapt?’ for there are options to choose from in terms of adaptation (learner-controlled, system-controlled or a combination of both). And this way, the four-dimensional view on adaptive learning can assist developers and instructors to keep in mind the complexity and richness of personalized and adaptive learning.

References

Scalise, K. (2007). Differentiated e-learning: five approaches through instructional technology. International Journal of Learning Technology, 3(2), 169–182. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJLT.2007.014843

Montebello, M., Pinheiro, P., Cope, B., Kalantzis, M., Haniya, S., Tzirides, A. O., … Searsmith, D. (2018). Enriching online education through differentiated learning. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’18). Presented at the Universitat Politecnica de Val ` encia, Val ` encia, 2018. https://doi.org/10.4995/head18.2018.8019

Ennouamani, S., & Mahani, Z. (2017). An overview of adaptive e-learning systems. 2017 Eighth International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems (ICICIS), 342–347. https://doi.org/10.1109/INTELCIS.2017.8260060

Vandewaetere, M., & Clarebout, G. (2014). Advanced technologies for personalized learning, instruction, and performance. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. Elen, & M. J. Bishop (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology (pp. 425–437). Retrieved from 10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5

Image reference: Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology – Chapter 34 - Advanced Technologies for Personalized Learning, Instruction, and Performance - Page 433