Why Adaptive Learning?
My name is Rory, and I am a member of the first graduating class at Minerva Schools at KGI. Minerva is a brand new Liberal Arts program based on the science of learning. As a cohort, we live in 7 cities around the world for a semester each. I have just completed my Freshman Year, based in San Francisco. I am working with the EdSurge Independent Cohort because I have a long standing passion for education, and a desire to debate and discuss important issues within the sphere.
When I was in school, I spent a lot of time in English wishing with all my heart that we could just go faster, and a lot of time in Math wishing we could go back and do fractions again, because I just didn’t get it. My brother had the opposite problem, able to understand math conceptually, but hardly able to write a sentence. Many of my friends still mourn their ignorance of the scientific method, or that missed grammar lesson, or the hours they spent doing worksheets for concepts they’d mastered quickly.
This is because our current school system works on a conveyor belt, or factory, model. The vast majority of people born in 1998 just finished their final school year. Unless they were unusually bright, or found school unusually difficult, they all followed the same path. They were all taught to read at pretty much the same time. They started algebra within months of each other. They read the same books, in the same amount of time, with the same level of analysis. Why? Because they were born in the same batch.
While this may have been the easiest way to structure a school system 100, 50 or even 10 years ago, to me, this makes very little sense now, as we enter a technological age. We now have the technological power to individualise the curriculum to each student, allowing some to push themselves faster, and some to take a slower pace, without separating them physically.
What would an Adaptive Classroom look like?
When I imagine an Adaptive Classroom, I see a room at AltSchool, San Francisco. At AltSchool, each child has a ‘playlist’ of lessons for the day. They meet together in the morning, just like any other class, to share their stories, talk, and set goals for the day. Then they proceed to their tablet and find their tasks, set for them by their teacher and determined by how far along in each subject they are. The children go out for recess, do art and play sport, but the speed of their learning is self determined.
An Adaptive Classroom allows all children to go through a pre-set curriculum at their own pace, and constantly checks their understanding through mini-assessment. After each assessment, the computer generates lessons and learning tools to address holes in understanding, and to push forward.
What could we gain from Adaptive Learning?
Some benefits of Adaptive Learning are obvious: no smart kid would ever have to sit through another class and learn nothing. No below average child would feel stupid as the teacher ploughed on without making sure they understood. No average child would be sacrificed to make the classroom work for the extremes. In short, every child would be able to progress at a speed which ensures their understanding as well as pushing them to greater heights.
Other benefits are less easy to see. Right now, teachers act mostly as lecturers and classroom managers. They don’t have the time to sit with each child, and use their skills to advance each students’ learning. With an Adaptive Classroom, teachers would become more like tutors, assisting students whenever needed, and curating social activities for the group. Teachers would be able to use their considerable skills better.
What could we lose with Adaptive Learning?
Well, it depends on how far you take it. You could go as far as having hundreds of children in rows, staring at screens for a few hours a day, and then going home, not having interacted with a teacher or another student. Or children could stay at home, and do all their studying from bed. However, I haven’t found a single proponent of Adaptive Learning who is even close to proposing this scenario.
Realistically, schools would continue to have the same ratio of student to teachers, and the children would have just as much time to socialise and work together on projects as in a ‘normal’ classroom.
Another concern is the lack of ‘class spirit’ or feeling of togetherness in a class. Skeptics argue that children would not have the same space to develop close ties with their peers if they were completing different work. I contend that children would still be in classes together, would still go out to recess together, would still do art and sport together. I see no reason why being able to work at their own pace would damage those ties. In fact, it may well have positive impacts on intelligence and performance related bullying, as children will not be able to directly compare their performance to others in the group.
Why does this matter?
Getting education right matters for the same reasons that education matters. We want to nurture a generation of confident, educated people who are able to do the basics and much, much more. Adaptive Learning would ensure that every child gets to fulfil their potential.
