Abstract:
For all intents and purposes, we educate our children in much the
same way as we did a century ago. Despite our stubborn attachment to an
instructional model from a bygone era, technology is set to
revolutionize the learning process. Examples include interactive lessons
that adapt to a specific student’s learning style to lectures taught by
a single professor to tens of thousands of students around the world
who are enrolled in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Such
innovations have the potential to radically alter the nature of
learning.
Adaptive technology is defined as software that learns
and alters itself based on the user’s inputs, while allowing for
interaction with a broad base of learning styles. Adaptive technology
software fills the role of the coach/tutor.
Should this technology
be adopted in classrooms, it holds the potential for changing a teacher
from a “one-size-fits-all” instructor to an individual learning coach.
Using adaptive technology, students can learn material through an avenue
of their choosing and at the pace that best suits them; when they
encounter a difficulty, the teacher can step in and coach them past the
problem individually or in a small group, while their classmates
continue. In many cases the software is becoming advanced enough to
recognize when the student is struggling, and is capable of pre-empting
the need for intervention by the teacher.
Two key areas of
adaptive learning require additional research in Canada. First, we need
better quantitative, empirical research about the benefits of adaptive
technology and its successful implementation and use. The second area
pertains to policy barriers for the introduction of adaptive technology.
Other questions, such as the cost of potential technologies, teacher
training, and quality control, are also relevant.
source: Fraser Institute- Canada
Download Technology and Education: A Primer
