Differentiated Learning Concept - Adaptive Learning

Adaptive learning, also known as adaptive teaching, is an educational method which uses computer algorithms to orchestrate the interaction with the learner and deliver customized resources and learning activities to address the unique needs of each learner. - Wikipedia

The overall idea is to provide a custom experience for each learner. In a traditional classroom, this is complicated, since the “one” teacher can only do so much for his/her students.

“Adaptive learning technology aims to emulate and support (not replace!) the talents of great educators to provide the best possible learning experience for every single student. It helps scale the benefits of adaptive learning to tens, hundreds, or thousands of students at a time.” - Source: Smartsparrow Website

The mechanisms of “how” technology adapts to students has several variations:

Designed Adaptivity - A method of adaptivity in which an educator designs the expert teaching sequence to guide their learners toward content mastery and

Algorithmic Adaptivity - A method of adaptivity in which one or more algorithms answer the following two questions:

1. What does the learner 'know'?

2. What should the learner experience next?

Source and definitions from Smartsparrow

As with anything, there is the question as to will this be enough? Will we continue to need our instructors? Or will the question be Why Instructors Matter More than Ever, as it is stated in the article Adaptive Learning Unplugged: Why Instructors Matter More than Ever Authors: by Amy Sloan and Lindsey Anderson

"Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and founding director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, claims that online classrooms limit engagement between students and instructors, and she questions the ability of online education to meet student needs over the long term” - Adaptive Learning Unplugged

There are many studies that prove that students tend to learn more with AL. Instructors are not being eliminated, however, their approach to teaching is changing. They continue to be part of the process and they continue to engage with student coursework and answering questions, but overall they are also changing the way they adopt technology into the classroom. Their involvement and the way they interact with the student has changed. Let’s think about it in terms of social media, the way everyone can now communicate through apps and texts. We haven’t lost interaction, we’ve changed it.

In the same article, Adaptive Learning Unplugged, they reference the article Want Adaptive Learning To Work? Encourage Adaptive Teaching. Here’s How. We need to communicate the positive effects of AL and encourage teachers to learn and participate. They need to be as enthusiastic as the students for it to work.

This makes sense to me, we are evolving, there are still many things to learn about AL integration in the classroom but it’s going to be a part of classrooms, teachers will need to guide, participate and understand this new mythology because that’s what students will know and need.