In any classroom, there are students who need remediation, those who need challenging content, and others who need more time to learn concepts. With CBE, students are introduced to content at a pace and order that moves them toward mastery. Adaptive instruction is a promising practice to support CBE models.
Jason Jordan, vice president of Revenue Strategy at Knewton, will lead a discussion about adaptive instruction and how it can be used to transform learning and access in higher education and support skill development. Specifically, Jason will help the audience understand how adaptive technology is directly in the service of key CBE instructional practices and how it can help with requisite college courses and trainings, often saving time and money for students. Participants will be guided through an adaptive course that is now in use by several colleges and universities across the country.
Jason will first demonstrate how adaptive instruction supports individualized instruction including: pace, learning style, using proficiency and progress toward mastery as the driver in instruction, as well as ensuring the instructional value for each and every student.
Learning objectives include:
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Understand how adaptive instruction helps students master concepts
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Learn about ways to integrate adaptive technology into courses
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Gain tangible tips on how to engage students with adaptive learning
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Learn how adaptive courses can efficiently deliver requisite courses and measure knowledge gained, not time spent in the classroom
Background
Knewton was founded with the foundational understanding that every student learns differently, and all students— throughout life— should be challenged to meet their unique potential. With adaptive learning, students gain insights into their skills and development and take ownership of the learning process.
The organization works to help educators both implement courses in the classroom as well as understand what they should demand of adaptive instruction including that it is:
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Individualized and understands student proficiency: a student is more than her answer to the last question. Real adaptive learning that supports CBE must take a 360-degree view of the student.
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More content provided: In adaptive technology, more content is provided than in a traditional textbook, which means more opportunities to tailor content to specific needs and learning styles.
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Data-driven: Adaptive products capture data at every step of the way to drive students toward mastery and give actionable insights to the educator.
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Time-saving: Educators spend less time differentiating instruction, and students spend the time they need to master content. When time is saved, often money is too.
Knewton is building and implementing college-level, adaptive general education, developmental courses, and STEM courses. It works to curate content in-house with subject matter experts, leverage content from leading OER provider OpenStax, as well as premium licensed content from providers such as Wiley. Its adaptive learning platform then provides specific content recommendations for precisely what a student should study next by analyzing the data set of what the student knows, how she learns, and what concepts she needs to achieve a stated learning goal. Early results from pilots indicate that 76% of students reached mastery using Knewton courses. This program is based on research done by an early partnership with ASU, which found that students using adaptive software increased pass rates by 17%, withdrawals dropped by 56%, and 45% of students finished four weeks early.
What is New and How it will Improve Practice
Adaptive learning is still a new idea in higher education. As institutions move to get more students through college successfully and armed with employable skills, innovative practices in CBE are needed. Adaptive learning flips the “sage on the stage” on its head: students are often asked to approach lessons first and then teachers diagnose where those students are in order to bring them to mastery. It will change the way instructors teach their courses. Integrating adaptive instruction will ensure that students are gaining the skills expected of them, both in school and in life. Teachers will be become even better at using data to drive instruction and support student success. And ultimately as more schools adopt adaptive technology, employers will have an increasingly accurate picture of what students have truly learned.
What can the audience do with this new information?
Attendees of this session will learn about a new instructional tool that can help them leverage data in the classroom, consider innovative ways to move students through coursework, and discover an efficient way to personalize instruction.
For example, an instructor will be encouraged to consider how they might alter a syllabus during the midpoint of a course because of the data received from these adaptive technologies.
Specifically, the learning takeaways include:
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Understand how adaptive instruction helps students master concepts
-
Learn about ways to integrate adaptive technology into courses
-
Gain tangible tips on how to engage students with adaptive learning
-
Learn how adaptive courses can efficiently deliver requisite and developmental courses and measure knowledge gained, not time spent in the classroom