Constructing a Design Framework and Pedagogical Approach for Adaptive Learning in Higher Education: A Practitioner's Perspective

Thomas Cavanagh,Baiyun Chen,James Paradiso,Rachid Ait Maalem Lahcen

doi:10.19173/irrodl.v21i1.4557

Abstract

While adaptive learning is emerging as a promising technology to promote access and quality at a large scale in higher education (Becker et al., 2018), the implementation of adaptive learning in teaching and learning is still sporadic, and it is unclear how to best design and teach an adaptive learning course in a higher education context. As early adopters, a team of instructors, instructional designers, and administrators at the University of Central Florida (UCF) identified five key design features as an adaptive learning design framework to guide the unique course design process. These five features involve deliberate design and development efforts that could bring significant benefits to student learning. The purpose of this field note is to present a design framework and best practices for teaching from both a systems and a pedagogical approach in the context of implementation at UCF. We also share the rationale and classification framework UCF has adopted to ensure the term “adaptive learning” is universally understood across campus. This paper offers insights into the design, delivery, and implications of utilizing adaptive learning systems in higher education courses at a public research university and attempts to capture the intimacy of lessons learned and best practices gathered since the project’s inception in 2014.

Highlights

Any cursory review of the digital learning marketplace or stroll through an EdTech conference exhibit hall will reveal the ubiquity of the term “adaptive learning.” Whether the term refers to a specific platform, a publisher, or a pedagogical practice, it is clear that the last 5-10 years have seen a significant increase in its usage
What does the term “adaptive learning” mean? As the usage of adaptive learning in higher education has advanced over the past few years, the research and practitioner communities seem to have coalesced around a few unifying concepts
Instructional designers, and administrators, we attempt to facilitate the adaptive learning process so that the benefits of adaptive technologies can be maximized in the design and delivery of adaptive courses

Summary

Introduction

Any cursory review of the digital learning marketplace or stroll through an EdTech conference exhibit hall will reveal the ubiquity of the term “adaptive learning.” Whether the term refers to a specific platform, a publisher, or a pedagogical practice, it is clear that the last 5-10 years have seen a significant increase in its usage. In the process of organizing content into learning bits (lessons), UCF PAL instructors and instructional designers found that relative to traditional courses, adaptive courses need additional or alternative content (Chen et al, 2017) This feature is not discussed widely in adaptive learning literature (as far as the authors have observed), but anecdotal feedback indicates this enhancement augments the adaptive personalization of adaptive courses. One that stands out is a set of mathematical (word) problems that have strings of variables for male and/or female names and a completely different scenario depending on a student’s major (e.g., business, education, etc.) so each student will access content that is relevant to learner’s background and characteristic (Muhs, 2018) This same design feature is applied to quantitative aspects of the course as well, where numbers are randomly generated (within predefined thresholds) for practice problems and other numeric assessments (including advanced data analysis using Microsoft Excel). Students are motivated to practice the case study multiple times because a different case study is presented for each attempt

A Pedagogical Approach

Findings

Conclusion