People working in certain fields or industries always try to find a newer or better strategy to solve a problem. And the field of eLearning is no different. We already have a complete science of eLearning content creation which is Instructional Design and it also includes lots and lots of strategies and models to solve various issues. Adaptive Learning is also a part of the eLearning strategy with a major role in shaping the modern eLearning education system.
One of the big challenges of eLearning creators and instructional designers was that every learner has a different level of knowledge, skillset, and learning abilities. Creating one single or the same course or training content was not working for this diverse learning needs. Hence we get this powerful eLearning strategy called Adaptive Learning to solve the problem created by a one-size-fits-all approach.
What is Adaptive Learning?
Adaptive Learning is an approach that provides learners with learning content tailored individually based on individual assessment data. with the help of real-time data analysis, the Adaptive Learning system monitors the learner’s performance, strengths, weaknesses, and pace, then it dynamically adjusts the curriculum and learning content to meet the unique requirements.
Suppose that you have created a course with multiple sections. You also provided it to multiple learners and they completed a few of its sections. Now when learners move to the new section, you can’t expect each of them to remember the entire information and concepts from the sections they have completed. As a result, not every single learner will understand the advanced topic which requires the learner to know the previous sections completely.
Adaptive Learning takes care of this scenario by providing the individuals again with a small lesson about the info or concept they forgot. This makes the learner pursue the current section with fluidity and they are not forced to go back to the basics. Those learners who have already understood the basic section completely can be taught advanced topics straightaway without the need to revisit the basics. This solves the issue of learners finding the basic lesson boring as they already know it.
Below Diagram will help you understand it with a basic example, as you can see you have a course that has 2 sections with 3 lessons in each. When a learner completes a lesson he has to go through an Assessment quiz. Then the quiz assessment data is used to make the next section adaptive. You can see that section 2 now includes lesson 2 based on quiz results. This technique can be used not just for the lesson, but sections, lessons, and every little piece of information.
Key Features of Adaptive Learning.
- Real-Time Adjustment: Learning content is dynamically tailored for different learners.
- Data-Driven Decision: It uses the learner’s assessment data, and analyzes them to decide the learning curriculum and what content to show to the learners.
- Individualized Learning Paths: Each learner experiences a different pathway based on their strengths and weaknesses.
Adaptive Learning Benefits
Adaptive Learning can be one of the best eLearning strategies to improve learning retention. It not only reteaches the basics to make the learners understand advanced concepts but also improves learner retention by making sure that the learners don’t find the content to be too difficult to leave.
Let’s take a look at its benefits:
- More Engagement: Learners engage more with the content as Adaptive Learning takes care of the issue of them being stuck at some point. It reteaches them the previous concepts if it is causing learners to not understand the current problem.
- Reduces Learning Time: It reduces the learning span as learners aren’t forced to learn a topic by themselves if they get stuck. It figures out the weak points with the assessment data and provides adaptive lessons to improve the learner’s skill that is required for the topic.
- Mastery: It makes the learners master the foundational topics by supporting them with adaptive lessons of the basics they are struggling with.
- Data-Informed Teaching: When you implement Adaptive Learning you work with data and this is where you can use tools like LRS (Learning Record Store) to analyze and see which part of the lessons, learners are having trouble with, you can pinpoint the reason and fix that.
Adaptive Learning Implementation Strategies
Adaptive Learning may also include some other strategies like microlearning. Let’s take a look at what are the strategies and tools we need to implement an effective Adaptive Learning System.
- Assessment at the beginning: It is always a better idea to make Adaptive Learning work right from the beginning. And we need learner’s data for this to work so assessing them with quizzes at the beginning of the course will be a good approach. This will let the Adaptive System know about each of the learner’s knowledge and understanding of the topic.
- Use of Microlearning Strategy: In a simple word, microlearning is all about breaking the lessons into small chunks and teaching the learner piece by piece. This reduces the confusion of too much information at the same time. Adaptive Systems can use this small chunk of the lesson to reteach the learner if they forget that little information when they are into another topic of the course.
- Frequent Feedback: If the learner is found to be forgetting lots of basics then Adaptive Learning can be very annoying for bringing microlessons from previous topics again and again. So, frequent feedback may let them adapt right learning pace correctly, and get away from unnecessary relearning.
Some Adaptive Learning Tools
You can achieve Adaptive Learning to a certain extent with the help of Authoring Tools like Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, and iSpring Suite. Let’s look at some of the tools that might be helpful in an Adaptive Learning System.
- Knewton: It uses machine learning to analyze assessment data and adapts the lesson for the required outcome.
- DreamBox: Focused on math, it is an Adaptive Learning platform primarily for K-8 education.
- Realzeit: It supports corporate training and higher education with a data-driven learning path.
- Conditional Addon: For WordPress LMS users, conditional addons can be a relief as there aren’t many Adaptive Learning options. Most LMSs like LearnDash LMS, Lifter LMS, WP Courseware, and Tutor LMS provide some sort of conditional or adaptive content addon to create condition-based Adaptive Learning. It won’t be similar to Newton’s machine learning-based Adaptive Learning but it still serves the purpose.
- GrassBlade xAPI Companion and LRS: These can be a powerful tool to track and store learning data for deep analysis and data-driven decisions for the betterment of course content.
Adaptive Learning Future with AI
We can see that AI is getting advanced more and more and affecting our lives in many aspects, It is going to change eLearning as well. eLearning professionals are already using Generative AI for eLearning content creation and for analyzing Adaptive Learning assessment data. With the evolution of AI, Adaptive Learning is going to be more advanced and robust.
Adaptive Learning is not just going to be predicting learners’ needs accurately, It also may leverage Generative AI to create content dynamically to provide learners with what they need to understand the lesson they are struggling with.
Conclusion
Adaptive Learning is one of the highly effective eLearning strategies that can be used along with other strategies like Gamification and Microlearning. It can create more engagement by taking away learning obstacles. Learners are more likely to complete a course with Adaptive Learning implemented than a simple course.
Adaptive Learning works right from the beginning by taking an early assessment of the learners, and then it creates a personalized learning curriculum for them. This makes the learning content less boring as learners won’t have to learn things they already know. So, Adaptive Learning would be one of the highly recommended strategies in modern eLearning education.
I hope this article has given you a complete picture of what Adaptive Learning is and how it will improve learning retention in your course or training program. Don’t forget to comment if any question you have, also share us with your strategy for implementing Adaptive Learning.