Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Adaptive Learning: The Premise, Promise, and Pitfalls

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This is a review paper intended to "explain what adaptive systems are and what kinds of data they require... to categorize the main use cases and possibilities of adaptive systems [and] to outline the current limitations and concerns surrounding adaptive systems." In two paragraphs it deftly summarizes the landscape, listing new companies (Acrobatiq, Knewton, CogBooks, Cerego, Realizeit, LoudCloud, Smart Sparrow) as well as the work of publishers, LMS companies and universities. The article lists a number of studies showing effect sizes nearly matching that of 1-to-1 tutoring. But it also references a number of studies where "the results were decidedly mixed." And it describes three potential pitfalls: discrimination and labeling of students, creating consequential feedback loops; nNarrow constraints of knowledge, knowing, and learning; and questions around transparency, availability, and security of data. This isn't a long paper, but it's well-written and informative.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 25, 2024 08:11 a.m.

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