Personalize learning with adaptive classroom technology
Personalization is everywhere. Thanks to pervasive data, cloud computing, mobile devices and powerful analytics tools, retailers, service providers, government departments and organizations of all kinds can offer experiences tailored to a user’s individual needs and preferences.
It’s a customer-focused world, and savvy schools are creating learning environments that deliver better outcomes by tailoring learning programs and support to meet their students’ needs. The key is to adopt an adaptive learni ng platform that allows teachers to monitor and assess their teaching tools and materials as well as their students’ performance.
Why use technology in the classroom?
In these new environments, teaching and IT staff work together to deploy tools that allow students to engage in ongoing research and collaborative projects to display their subject proficiency. By allowing students to have a say in the time, place and pace of learning they become more engaged and more connected with their education.
This means teachers become co-creators of the learning experience, rather than being ‘the sage on the stage’. Rather, teachers become guides, helping students to work through the curriculum and working with them in small groups or even one-on-one.
Working with teachers
Teacher expertise is the key to success. Adaptive technologies allow for real-time monitoring of learning materials and student responses. If a module, assignment or resource isn’t proving effective, it can be reviewed, and any necessary changes made.
Good adaptive tools, once created, don’t require teachers to be programmers and they don’t require involvement from the IT team when adjustments to materials need to be made. Rather, they provide a simple platform with analytics tools to help teachers understand their students’ needs and continually refine their lessons and materials for maximum effectiveness.
What to look for in adaptive technology
The best adaptive technology platforms operate on multiple levels, providing:
- Feedback to show what students are doing and what they have learned. Real-time monitoring makes it possible for teachers to intervene immediately, if needed.
- Pathways to provide different sequences of content to each student, depending on what each student does and how their study is progressing.
- Analytics tools to allow teachers to adapt their teaching Teachers have the tools to adapt their teaching according to an analysis of student results.
Ideally, the technology will allow teachers to dive deep into each student’s individual performance. Teachers can move beyond generic goals, like earning an A, to more concrete objectives suitable for individual students, like reading a certain amount every week or improving their reading level by a certain percentage in a set time.
Information gathered by adaptive technology platforms allows teachers to gather deeply-granular data to drive teaching and learning. Done right, it means more rewarding teaching and learning experiences in a responsive and supportive environment.