Adaptive Learning Presentation

Adaptive Learning Presentation
Name:
Institution:
Part 1: Rationale for Selection and Justification for Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning is an online learning system that is computer-based and adapts the presentation of educational materials in harmony with the learners’ performance. Best-of-breed methods capture fine-grained information and utilize learning analytics to allow for the human tailoring of results (Kolb & Kolb, 2005). The related learning management systems (LMS) offer comprehensive documentation, tracking, administrative and reporting progress, as well as user management. Essentially, the high demands within the educations system and the high diversity of students has made it necessary to adopt different technological advancement within the system. In fact, the adaptive learning has been the take-off adaptation for a much-needed transformation in the area of education, in which the classroom setting tries to cater for the varied students’ needs in the same class at a given point.
Most importantly, the education system has undergone numerous transformations within the last few decades. However, adaptive learning has particularly been important for the way it has been carried out and how significant it has been in improving the performance of students within the education system. The reason for choosing adaptive learning as a topic of focus is because of the unique needs that students have in the education sector. Since there has been the unavailability of appropriate technology to navigate the structural blocks of recognizing just two intelligence levels to cater for- the struggling and the smart, the adoption of adaptive learning has helped in diminishing the numerous learning gaps between students in schools (Laurillard, 2006).

In essence, there have been significant learning gaps between the weak students in schools and bright students and this is a trend that is universal. In this regard, adaptive learning can be used to bridge this gap when used effectively. The way in which adaptive learning compels teachers to spend more time with students while tackling difficult topics and ironing out certain problematic areas at a normal pace ensures the highest individual level of achievement among students. Therefore, because of the growing demand for students’ achievement and the advancement of technologies to aid in the education sector, the topic of adaptive learning is important.
Further, adaptive learning helps with raising the confidence of students. The system functions in a way that students are given individual instructions based on their specific abilities and assessed to ensure they improve their skills. Individualized instructions often assist the students to become self-assured and gain self-confidence because of the way lessons are focused and tailored to go with their abilities. Also, the system encourages great student-teacher engagement. The interaction between teachers and students is probably the most effective way of improving students’ performance. With adaptive learning, teachers have opportunities to interact, on a one-on-one basis, with students when they are using the individualized form of instructions in the classrooms. In short, adaptive learning offers more opportunities for students and teachers to talk and assess their progress academically, and how well their learning paths can be tailored to improve their performance.
All in all, the reason for selecting adaptive learning lies in need to improve the education system. The fact that students have different abilities and there are disparities between the most intelligent and less intelligent students within the system, there is need to bridge this gap to ensure that there are no big gaps in the overall performance of the students. Therefore, with the adoption of adaptive learning, the focus on individual students helps in improving their level of awareness, confidence, and performance since most of the techniques used by teachers cut across.
Storyboard
The use of adaptive learning in schools comprises a number of steps. The selection of this topic relies heavily on the importance of each of these steps. Therefore, to understand the processes and significance of the system, the following steps explain how it works:
The first step is to analyze the learning styles used by the students in schools. Ideally, instructors or teachers are always tasked with understanding the existing styles, source individual students’ information and keep records of the information acquired. In this process, the instructors mainly focus on the abilities of the students and use their information to understand them fully.
After sourcing information about the students and understanding their abilities, the instructor evaluates the learning methods within the institution. The evaluation focuses on their effectiveness in improving the students’ performance and also the quality of education (Vassileva, 2010). The existing system is evaluated by the adaptive learning system to understand which is more effective.
Lastly, the instructor is required to harmonize the adaptive learning system with the abilities of the students based on the information acquired in the first step. Since students have different abilities and the gap between the bright and poor students is wide, it is important to recognize which system works effectively in trying to bridge this gap. Therefore, since adaptive learning has proven successful in improving performance, the tutor adopts the system in classrooms by focusing on each student and aiming to improve their performance. The best aspect of this system is its focus on individual students rather than a group- it effectively bridges the gap between the best and the worst students in classrooms.
Visual Illustrations of Adaptive Learning
Understanding the abilities of students

Adoption of adaptive learning

Evaluating adaptive learning system

Part 2: History and Evolution
Adaptive learning has been in existence for decades, with its history embedded in cognitive psychology, starting with the publications of B.F. Skinner, a behaviorist, in the mid-1950s, and lasting through the era artificial intelligence movement that started in the 1970s. In essence, adaptive learning has its origins in the artificial movement that started gaining popularity in the 1970s (Laurillard, 2006). During this period, it was understood that computers would ultimately achieve the adaptive level of humans. The fundamental concept of this system is that it will adjust to the learning methods of user/students’, which result in more effective and better learning knowledge for the students.
Back in the 1970’s, the major challenge was the size and cost of the computers which rendered its extensive application unrealistic (Sznajder, Sabelis, & Egas, 2012). Another challenge in its approval as early intelligence was that the interfaces of the user were not favorable for the process of learning. The beginning of the work on intelligent and adaptive learning systems is normally traced back to the system called SCHOLAR that provided adaptive learning in the area of geography in South America. Several other technological systems were introduced years later.
Similarly, the evolution of this technology has been evident in the past decades. With the development of the education system, the stakeholders have been forced to adopt adaptive learning to improve the quality of education or make more effective the learning methods existing in the system. For instance, adaptive learning systems have traditionally been divided into different models to fit into the education system. The models include the expert model, the student model, and the instructional model. First, the expert model is considered to be the component storing the information to be used for teaching (Sznajder, Sabelis, & Egas, 2012). The information stored range from tutorials to lessons used by teachers in classrooms. The model also serves to illustrate the methods or approaches likely to be used.
Second, student model is the most important component because it focuses on the students. The model sources information about the students, learns the weakness and strengths of the students and aligns them with the teaching method. Compared to the previous teaching methods where students are taught as a group, this evolution has made it possible for teachers to understand students and come up with ways to help them improve their performances (Sznajder, Sabelis, & Egas, 2012). Lastly, the instructional model is mainly used by the tutors to convey the information to students. With the two previous models already presenting the information about the students and best approach for teaching, this model is used to convey the information with an aim to better the performance of each student.
Essentially, adaptive learning has evolved to become one of the most recognized and effective learning systems in schools. It has gone from an ill-defined concept in postsecondary education to an integral part or category of the teaching and learning technology. It is important to note that most learning institutions now adopt the system because of its effectiveness in bridging the gap between most and least intelligent students. Therefore, when looking back from the 1950s, when the technology was introduced into the education system, one cannot help but recognize how much it has helped in improving the quality of students produced in schools. Just like other sectors, the education system has embraced technological advancements. Most schools are trying to adopt systems that are appealing to not only local students but also international students. Thus, adaptive learning has been a significant technological improvement in learning and institutions have recognized the importance of adopting its use.
Storyboard
The history and evolution of adaptive learning can be outlined in three different steps:
History- the system started as artificial intelligence in the 1970s with the aim of replicating human abilities. In the following decades, adaptive learning started to be recognized as a learning tool in schools. Also, the increase in the number of international students and the high demand for education compelled the institutions into adopting new ways of accommodating students and, at the same time, ensuring the improvement of students’ performance.
Methods of Adaptive learning- there are three main methods used to adopt the system. First, the expert model acquires the information to be used to teach the students. It brings together the relevant parts of the syllabus, condense them into few chapters and put them together to match the expectations of the students. Second, the student model tries to understand the abilities of the students and how the syllabus will be harmonized with their abilities. The model mainly learns about the individual students and uses the information to teach them. Lastly, the instructional model focuses on the adoption of the system. After understanding the needs of each student, the information is used to improve their performance.
Implementation- this phase can be achieved in two ways. The implementation can either be done through distance learning where the tutors use the internet or group collaborations to teach or through a game design to serve as a guide for the tutors. The design will be used to convey all the information acquired in the first phase and try to improve the academic abilities of the students. With all the steps, the adaptive learning is effectively implemented or put into use in schools.
Visual Illustrations of History and Evolution of Adaptive Learning
Implementation-Distance learning and game design
Methodology- Expert model, student model, and Instructional model
History-started as an artificial intelligence

Part 3: Current State of Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning is a product of many years of practice, conceptualization, and research. The system has been shown to lead impressive improvement in student learning across a wide range of domains including science, math, medicine, physical, procedural tasks, and computer programming. It is typically grounded in established cognitive theory, cognitive modeling, and cognitive task analysis (Murray, & Pérez, 2015). In essence, the alternative learning methods have not been effective. For instance, the expectations that students will learn by presenting them with the same material are not only unrealistic but also unproductive. Evidence shows that students are turned off by the process and ultimately lose their motivation. However, the current state of adaptive learning has given hope to the learning system. With the effectiveness that has been demonstrated by the use of this system, it is likely that students have now started to develop motivation in learning.
Essentially, for the last five years, institutions have tried to understand the importance of adaptive learning. A look at the current trends, nonetheless, suggests that the interest in adaptive learning has been pretty static partly because of the slow adaptation of the system and the lack of stern policy to ensure schools speed up its adoption. Notably, policies that aim to regulate the education sector still emphasize the traditional methods of teaching making the adoption of adaptive learning slow among institutions. To reverse the current static interest in adopting the system, schools must begin to understand the significance of adaptive learning. The current trends in the job market demand quality. However, the high influx of students has made it difficult to achieve this using the traditional methods of learning. Therefore, by adopting adaptive learning system, the gap between the highly intelligent students and the least intelligent students is bridged, and quality is also ensured.
Storyboard
Compared to the past years, the current state of affairs regarding the adoption of adaptive learning has immensely stagnated, which is surprising considering there is an increase in the number of both foreign and local students. Ideally, the shift that is happening in the education system should be an encouragement for the learning institutions to implement the system. In fact, with the need to improve the performance of students in schools, adaptive learning needs to be implemented in institutions because of its effectiveness. However, there is a reason for the static interest shown in the system. The reasons can be said to be:
Governance- policies are important for any institutions. The kind of governance in the education sector heavily relies on the policies put in place. In the current environment, there are no real policies that compel institutions to adopt adaptive learning system. In this regard, most try to maintain the status quo by using the traditional methods of teaching. Therefore, with the changing dynamics of the education system, it is part of the reason why a drop in students’ performance is reported each year.
Funding- most institutions are afraid of the financial burden that comes with adopting the adaptive learning system. Since the traditional methods are cheaper, most schools prefer not to initiate the system change.
Organization and Service Delivery- for the system to be fully effective, it requires a serious organization within the schools and tutors or teachers who are up to the task. Therefore, because most institutions find its adoption demanding, they choose to stick to the traditional forms.
Success Metrics- despite the evidence of its effectiveness, some institutions are still skeptical of the success of adaptive learning system. It is for this reason that they are reluctant to adopt it
Visual Illustrations

Part 4: The Future of Adaptive Learning
Without a doubt, the adaptive learning system is a great innovation for the education system. If used effectively by teachers, it can improve the sector massively. Looking at the future of this system, a great picture of the learning institutions is presented. With the current trend and the increasing demand to incorporate technology into learning, the instructors’ class or classrooms might be like: All users, mostly students, have an importunate digital profile that enables teachers to have a better understanding of them in their classrooms, as well as their proficiency levels. In fact, the students may be categorized by need, for instance, high-performance students with difficulties in language might be grouped as a sub-section; poorly performing students with just one math required might be grouped as a second group. Also, students can be offered or told to choose between an online course or an on-site, or even a combination of the two courses. However, regardless of their choice, they are allowed to access academic material with the teachers available to guide, remediate, motivate and challenge them.
Further, a future where more students will have access to instructions in informal settings is inevitable. Technology is quickly advancing. A bigger percentage of youth now has access to the internet (Sterling, 2004). In this regard, it is likely that adaptive learning will be adopted in the informal settings in future. For instance, smartphones and tablets are everywhere which is a positive sign that the technology is quickly advancing in the right direction. Soon, every student will have access to the online learning platform, and this will help in improving the quality of education and access to tutors without necessarily attending classrooms.
Storyboard
The evolution of adaptive learning has been on the rise for the last few decades. With the trend, one can foresee what the future holds for this great invention. For instance, the technology started simply as artificial intelligence but has become an integral part of the education system. Also, the technological advancements are a clear sign of a better future. With the inventions of smartphones and computers, it is likely that every student will have access to the internet in the future. Therefore, the tutors will have an opportunity to interact with students without necessarily attending classrooms. Thus, for the discussion, there are inventions that will help aid the adoption of the technology. The inventions include computers, smartphones, and tablets. These devices make the students have access to the internet and interact with tutors.
Visual Illustration

References
Kolb, A. Y., & Kolb, D. A. (2005). Learning styles and learning spaces: Enhancing experiential learning in higher education. Academy of management learning & education, 4(2), 193-212.
Laurillard, D. (2006). E-learning in higher education. Changing higher education: The development of learning and teaching, 71-84.
Murray, M. C., & Pérez, J. (2015). Informing and Performing: A Study ComparingAdaptive Learning to Traditional Learning. Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdicipline, 18, 111.
Sterling, S. (2004). Higher education, sustainability, and the role of systemic learning. In Higher education and the challenge of sustainability (pp. 49-70). Springer Netherlands.
Sznajder, B., Sabelis, M. W., & Egas, M. (2012). How adaptive learning affects evolution: reviewing theory on the Baldwin effect. Evolutionary biology, 39(3), 301-310.
Vassileva, D. (2010). Storyboard Design for Adaptive E-learning Based on Learning Styles.