It is a well
researched finding that if technology based learning systems is encouraged to
reach to an advanced stage; it will enable content and customized strategies.
It is also a matter for concern in which way the learning data, collected by
this system, be used to enhance the ability of the system and become adoptable
to varied numbers of learners and their learning adaptability.
As far as adaptive instructions are concerned, it is not a
new thing, because it has been constantly observed since the days we talk about
Socrates. More than three decades ago, i.e. in the start of 1980s, it was the
experiences of the education researchers (Corno and Snow 1986), that adapting
instructions to students works as the major factor in the domain of successful
learning. If researches of those days are referred, (Bloom 1984), it is found
that one-to-one tutoring was a great
success, in which learning experiences and time provisions are adapted by the
tutor, so that individual needs of the students can be addressed to.
Digital learning systems are known as adaptive, because they
are capable enough to dynamically get converted to the learner as their
responses to the collected information, as and when they are in their learning
sessions, rather than basing on the ongoing information; they are learner’s
age, gender and test scores. As the learner goes on working, adaptive learning system make use
of gathered information, their way of representing the concept, the
difficulties there-in, the task or problem related sequencing, along with the
nature of feedbacks and hints provided.
With which adaptive
instructions are related?
Adaptive instructions are related to personalized, differentiated
and individualized learning. The minimum contribution from adaptive learning
systems is individualized pacing, but if it is a bit more sophisticated, it can
differentiate the nature of activities that has relations with learning that is
based on the responses of the students. For supporting personalized learning,
different systems are being developed in these days, in which pacing &
method of instructions, varied learning objectives based options and contents are
incorporated.
No doubt, sessions like ‘one-on-one’ with a skilled tutor,
who has the dynamisms of understanding the needs of the students and responding
to their needs, can offer the most personalized experience to the taught.
Digital learning system has advanced to such an extent that students can
acquire, diagnose and dynamically respond. Any good teacher will continually
assess the understanding of the students as well their level of engagement. The
extreme purpose of this system is to customize the contents and strategies for
different students, of course there is no doubt that doing this individually
for all students is very difficult.
According to (Oakes 2005), there is every possibility that
in the class room environment, teachers may vary in their learning approaches,
where different types of prior achievements rule the roost. If any teacher
wants to differentiate in teaching in the classroom environment, he / she have
to rigor to considerable skills and efforts and adapt different types of
resources with different types of difficulties.
