Here’s proof that adaptive learning works

A look at the efficacy of an adaptive learning platform

adaptive-learning-collegeSandra Connelly, an assistant professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said when she teaches a general biology course, she’s always struck by how varied her students are.

“This year, I have almost 65 different majors spread across 400 students,” Connelly said. “Teaching them is a matter of trying to keep the attention of business majors, art majors, poetry majors, and then physicians assistance majors who really need this biology background.”

So, in 2009, she started using Pearson’s adaptive learning platform called Mastering in an attempt to create a more personalized experience. It’s really helped, Connelly said, and, of course, Pearson is happy to report the same. But the company no longer expects anecdotes like Connelly’s to be enough evidence that their products are effective.…Read More

‘Untangling the knots’ of educational technology

Educators share ‘hacks’ to improving higher education, using technology to help students learn

technology-education-knotHal Plotkin, the senior policy adviser to the office of the undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Education, couldn’t write until he was in seventh grade.

Even when he finally could, Plotkin said Wednesday, it was not a teacher who taught him, but his girlfriend, who was embarrassed of his performance in their English class. “People can learn from teachers, but also each other,” he said.

Plotkin related this tale of peer learning during an event hosted by Future Tense, a partnership between Arizona State University, Slate, and the New America Foundation. The discussion, called “Hacking the University,” brought together several educators to share their solutions, or “hacks,” to some of the biggest problems facing higher education.…Read More

How a counterterrorism software company hopes to combat dropout rates

After decades of helping prevent terrorism, Intelligent Software Solutions turns its attention to student retention

security-software-dropoutFor more than 20 years, data analytics company Intelligent Software Solutions has created software to help counter improvised explosive devices (IEDs), assist police officers in preventing crimes, and predict the behavior of terrorists.

Now, the company is turning its attention to a new target: students.

90 percent of the engineers and technicians at ISS hold Department of Defense security clearances. The company’s software supports more than 20 bomb centers around the world, as well as Air Force air and space operations centers.…Read More

As students study, digital textbooks study them too

Learning analytics embedded into digital textbooks may be more effective at predicting student outcomes than prior academic achievement, a metric long thought to be the strongest predictor of success.

digital-textbook-learningPredictive and learning analytics has been touted for its ability to “read” students, providing educators with a host of data about studying habits, problem areas, and background information, according to a recent study commissioned by eTextbook publisher CourseSmart.

With analytics installed directly into a digital textbook, that analysis can happen seamlessly while students are doing their own reading, researchers said.

“Seeing how a student’s engaging with a book, how much of the book they’re consuming, how they’re using the tools in the book, is an indication of how successful they’ll be,” Cindy Clarke, CourseSmart’s vice president of marketing, recently told Education Dive.…Read More

Higher Education’s Big (Data) Bang: Part Two

A university recently crunched all of the “Big Data” it had gathered on a course and made a surprising discovery.

big-data
Some in higher education question massive investments in Big Data.

Out of the two professors who taught the course, one had significantly lower performing students. But this was a professor who had won several teaching awards and was well-respected by campus leaders.

What was going on here, the researchers wondered as they sifted through all of the data points at their disposal.

They could only draw one conclusion based on the data at hand: the poorer student performance was because the professor was not the level of teacher everyone believed him to be.…Read More

Predictive software plots path to college degrees

Four higher education institutions in Tennessee saw marked improvements in grades, retention, and in closing attainment gap after participating in a trial of predictive analytics software.

predictive-software-desire2learn
Colleges have poured resources into bolstering predictive analytics.

Two universities and two community colleges used Desire2Learn’s Degree Compass predictive analytics technology between August 2012 and May 2013.

According to data released on Dec. 5 by Desire2Learn, students who selected courses based on Degree Compass recommendations had a much higher success rate than students who selected courses on their own.

At one university the average number of credit hours passed by students who used the predictive analytics technology for 12 credit hours of courses was 10.66 credit hours. The success rate was an average of just two credit hours passed for students who didn’t use Degree Compass at all.…Read More

Higher Education Evolution Part 3: Administrators’ Challenge in 2023

For university administrators, whether they’ll still have a campus to govern come 2023 will depend on how quickly they can embrace changes in fundraising, faculty demands, and student demographics.

administrators
Administrators will face a series of tough choices over the next decade.

Sebastian Thrun, founder of Udacity and Google X, last year predicted that only 10 institutions would be delivering higher education in five decades. Researchers at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Education said between 25 and 50 percent of universities will be in bankruptcy in 15 years.

While many educators said these numbers are drastic predictions of the future, they also admit universities that don’t embrace technological changes in education could be in serious danger by 2023.

This is the third story in an eCampus News series examining the technological changes in higher education over the next 10 years. Read parts one and two.…Read More

Textbook publishers transform into ‘learning companies’

Textbook publishers like McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson are in the middle of a transformation – and it’s not just a transition to eBook-versions of their familiar products.

textbook-publishers
Waterhouse described adaptive learning as a ‘sweet spot.’

In a recent interview with eCampus News, Lloyd “Buzz” Waterhouse, CEO of McGraw-Hill Education, predicted that by the end of this year, 38 percent of the company’s products will be digital and only one-third of its offerings will be traditional textbooks.

“That’s a pretty big migration for us from a few years ago,” Waterhouse said. “In about three years, I expect the majority of the company will be digital, and I don’t mean just eBooks. We sell a lot of them, and they’re important, but I don’t believe eBooks are the end game.”

The impact of these changes goes far wider than just a publisher’s bottom line or line of products.…Read More

Remedial placement meets adaptive learning

Only 22.3 percent of remedial students complete remediation classes and graduate with associate degree programs in two years, according to the organization Complete College America.

remedial-adaptive-learning
The price tag for remedial education sits at $3.6 billion annually.

More than half of students at two-year colleges are placed in the wrong remedial courses, according to a 2012 report by the organization.

McGraw-Hill Education announced on Oct. 16 at the 2013 EDUCAUSE conference in Anaheim, Cal., that it found a new way of dealing with the problem – and it’s using adaptive learning technology that has been decades in the making.

The learning company acquired the software corporation ALEKS in June, but its artificially intelligent education software has been mining data for twenty years.…Read More

Government ‘in action’ game simulates politics

Washington, D.C. — With less than seven hours until congressional brinksmanship would shut down the U.S. government for the first time in 17 years, a freshman Republican congressman boarded a plane destined for his home district in Mississippi.

government-in-action-shutdown
In the game “Government in Action,” students play as congress members competing for political capital in a bid for reelection.

He had just lost a battle to pass a bill that would mandate school uniforms, a piece of legislation that he failed to convince a single other member to co-sponsor.

Soon, he would head back to Washington to meet with a group of government lobbyists to learn how they could help him.

The congressman, known simply as Rep. Smith, doesn’t seem to have a first name. In fact, he doesn’t seem to even have a body apart from his well-dressed torso. That’s because he is an online computer game avatar, one of many available characters in McGraw-Hill Education’s “Government in Action.”…Read More

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