Adaptive learning is a computer-based online educational platform that modifies the presentation of study material in response to student performance. In other words, adaptive learning platforms are websites that offer teachers as well as students a wide range of activities such as quizzes, brain training exercises according to their subject which ultimately boosts the learning power of students and makes it a fun platform to learn.
Adaptive learning is the delivery of education or training that uses a combination of technology and data to provide an individually customized learning program to students, with the smart adaption of learning patterns. In the last few years, the concept of adaptive learning has gained more interest due to new technological advancements and the growing partnerships between e-learning software providers and education publishers. The adaptive learning platform uses some forms of data mining to put together algorithms. There are many benefits of adaptive learning few of them are-
Students’ Progress Faster: With adaptive learning: teachers can use the time students spend with the computer software to address their needs on a one-on-one basis or in a small group setting. It helps corporate employees as well as they are busy, thus the idea of heading over to a training workshop or classroom becomes stressful after a long day, but with Online learning or e-learning that is kind of shortcut as it cuts out the traveling time, reduces cost and lowers down the stress associated with learning something new.
Improves understanding: The method used in adaptive learning is very helpful for students as to when teachers are standing in a classroom it is difficult to check on every child whether they are getting correctly or not, but the method and pace of instruction are customized for each student which lets them have a deeper subject understanding.
Adjustable: It allows the learner to move around smoothly through the training modules. This usually happens because the program is itself is about learning how much to deliver during a particular learning session.
Feedback Loop: All online interactions generate data; such data can be used by students or employees to analyze and identify areas to improve the overall learning experience. With adaptive learning, the feedback received from teachers or employees is extremely helpful.
Engage: Adaptive learning engages students, today technologies have been part of every student’s life, as a result, they are particularly tech-savvy.
Limited Budget: It can be performed with a limited budget by paying for the classes of subjects in which a student needs more attention.
Friendly: Teachers can spend more time engaging with students. This helps students to bond more which helps them to express their feeling about the subject they are learning.
As per key insights from ASTUTE Analytica, the global adaptive learning software market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 21.8% during the forecast period of 2020-2027, owing to which ASTUTE Analytica offers insights and forecasts in its report on the global adaptive learning software market.
The key players performing under this market are Cerego, Curriculum Associates, LLC, D2L Corporation, Docebo, Dreambox learning, fish tree, Houghton Miffin Harcourtl, etc.
Features of adaptive learning which makes it different from the traditional learning approach:
Collaboration: An adaptive learning system can improve collaboration with the teacher as well as among students by a social component into coursework. Learning can be shared via chats, forums, and discussions, thus boosting learner engagement.
Videos: Adaptive learning can help access courses that are associated with sales personnel training.
Timely feedbacks: Adaptive learning helps with instant feedbacks to individuals and groups, with results conducive to development, rapid learning, and risk-taking.
Gamification Learning: Rewards and badges motivate and drive learners to achieve more. Along with feedbacks with formative assessments improve employee retention rate.
Addressing Individual Needs: It helps learners to cater to diversified needs while gaining insight into the entire learning process. With the rising diverse needs of learners, some students face issues with e-language which can be overcome with the use of platforms that offer easy language teaching.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has led to increased adoption of adaptive learning software due to the long closure of schools, colleges, and other educational institutes. Most platforms require a high upfront cost to adapt or develop them, hence, educational institutes have chosen their platforms accordingly. Adaptive systems require digital infrastructure thus both teachers and students must access the system by having a device with the appropriate content and wireless capability to connect to that content as adaptive systems require wireless devices and high-quality data.
To grow adaptive learning systems, both teachers and students require proper training. The pandemic has shown us how we can no longer rely on the traditional form of schooling. Adaptive learning systems could be a chance to support self-led learning and other forms of learning too. The traditional system of learning is starting to change in the E-learning environment. Covid-19 has presented challenges like no other but highlighted the critical need for adaptive learning. This is the only solution to save students from falling behind and creating a path for their academic success in a period of uncertainty, hence we can say Adaptive learning is here to stay for a long time.
The key components of adaptive tutoring systems can be a model that continually assesses students’ knowledge, a list of knowledge in the domain being learned, and then hints and an adaptive sequencing of content based on what the student knows. A student should test each adaptive learning technology or have flagged it as an option and should make sure a platform is fully curriculum aligned to your curriculum. Adoption of adaptive learning platforms is not only taken by education institutions but also undertaken by any corporate organization for meeting and training purposes. There are many benefits of adaptive learning in corporate training. It offers very great potential to establish effective and time-efficient pathways.
A personalized adaptive training or approach can cut half the amount of time it takes for a typical learner to achieve mastery, compared to other learning approaches, Adaptive learning does not focus on what people already know it focuses on where they need to become competent. Adaptive learning also keeps a track of what people have learned, so if training needs to be updated the course can be modified accordingly, when changes to the course are introduced, the system can differentiate between material a learner has already covered and new areas to be mastered.
As per the researchers at ASTUTE Analytica, the major whopping reason for the growth of adaptive learning software is due to student’s inclination towards adoption of distant learning of executive learning programs. Additionally, increasing IT spending and implementation of training sessions by the enterprise on the cloud has led to the considerable growth of the adaptive learning software market internationally.
With the increasing awareness among parents and corporate organizations on the dynamic nature of modern workplace requirements and the ineffectiveness of the factory method of learning in meeting those, the idea of personalized learning is getting moderate acceptance in society. The most used apps in India for adaptive learning are –
Byjus: The app features provide actionable feedbacks, recommendations, and guiding paths, this app is commonly used by students from classes 4 to 12.
NextNLP: This app follows a customized version of Item Response Theory where a student will get the difficult questions if he or she answers correctly and if they answer it wrong, they will face a question of lower difficulty level.
Kidaptive: It has AI-Based algorithms that permit educational companies to use the data they collect to boost the engagement of users and improve outcomes.
Class plus: This app helps tutors to focus on students by eliminating time-consuming secondary activities such as tracking attendance logs, checking assessments, and creating quizzes.
Embibe: All learning content is available in the form of web videos, question banks, and interactive 3D slideshows.
Hence the ‘one-size-fits-all’ method of learning is no longer applicable. Adaptive learning ensures that students are engaged in learning, which proves to be more effective when students learn things in a way that interests them the most. Adaptive learning is the future of the education industry. The student population is increasingly diverse in terms of culture, economic background, educators very well know that each student cannot absorb in the same way and teaching needs to be more personalized. As technology ownership grows across the globe adaptive learning becomes increasingly viable and accessible. Internet network speed is increasing and because of those opportunities for more multimedia training methods also arise. Although learning is expensive, takes a lot of time with immense improvement in technology devices such as smartphones and other portable devices in the past few years and increase in telecommuting, taking all features of e-learning on the road. Social media is also playing a crucial role in transforming the education industry rapidly. Various e-learning trends can give us a clear picture of the future of e-learning and how learning tools will be shaped. People learn five times more material in online learning courses than in face-to-face courses.
When adaptive learning makes the best use of mobile technology, the organizational workforce can access training anywhere and anytime to address their immediate goals. It caters to the need of modern-era students and employees who do not need to move from their place to go anywhere and can learn whenever they want, any time, and at any age. Hence adaptive learning is here to stay for a longer period until new technology comes that is better than adaptive learning.