Opening a new chapter in our journey
Taskbase is opening a new exciting chapter this year. It is taking its advanced adaptive learning technologies to an international level, while welcoming Cristina Riesen as Co-CEO. We sat down with Cristina (CR) and Co-CEO Samuel Portmann (SP) to talk about adaptive learning and the future of education.
Why is now the time for adaptive learning and edtech innovation ?
CR: These are critical times to engineer the next generation of ethical education technologies. It’s safe to say that we are in the midst of a tectonic shift in education. Adaptive learning is becoming an especially timely advantage today, as education institutions and organizations struggle to respond to individual learning gaps and to help learners catch up fast to where they need to be. Existing adaptive learning technologies, both in the academic and the enterprise world, are however not yet highly sophisticated. This is set to change significantly in the next few years, as advanced machine learning and natural language processing are expected to mature and improve.
SP: Adaptive learning is not a new topic, but creating applications that can truly enhance learning has been a major challenge. On the one hand, learning success is difficult to measure, which makes it hard to design pertinent algorithms. On the other hand, it is difficult to evaluate whether an application helps different individual learners become more successful. This is why we are taking a different approach to adaptive learning at Taskbase. With our technologies, we mimic bespoke didactical approaches of the best educators, taking into account the uniqueness of each learner and providing the right feedback at the right time. This way, we can offer each learner a personalized path for growth.
What is the main benefit of adaptive learning?
CR: Today many learners around the globe are not reaching their full potential. Research shows that the “one-size-fits-all” instruction model leads to a large number of learners performing well below grade-based curricular expectations (Duflo, Dupas, & Kremer, 2011; Pritchett & Beatty, 2015). If designed, developed and implemented appropriately, advanced adaptive learning technologies combined with adaptive teaching approaches make it possible to adjust the level and the pace of instruction and preparation for each learner.
Digital learning technologies are criticized for not being didactically sound. Is this true?
SP: In the past, digital learning products were not necessarily optimized for maximizing learning outcomes. In most cases, they had been designed to generate the highest possible profit for the operators or to reach the highest possible rating in the app store. But today, education experts are demanding digital concepts that are didactically relevant to enhance learning success. This makes formative feedback and explainable adaptivity essential to next-gen digital learning platforms and products.
Why is Taskbase at the forefront of edtech innovation?
SP: We are part of large research collaborations with ETH and EPFL, two of the world’s best technical universities. In our team we often say that Taskbase is, to adaptive learning platforms, what Intel is to personal computers, as our technologies are integrated in learning systems of leading publishers and digital learning developers such as Klett, LerNetz, Lernnavi or Connect Solutions. For the development of our technologies, we have also received valuable support from Innosuisse and the Jacobs Foundation. Their support has allowed us to be part of an ambitious education initiative of the Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Accordingly, our engineering team was able to demonstrate that even highly complex developments with the best quality can be implemented on a rapid time scale.
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting education around the world. What is the future of learning?
CR: While different scenarios may unfold in the future, there is an urgent need to find solutions for upskilling people and addressing the global education crisis affecting 825 million children around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic acts as a catalyst in what is called The Dawn of Digital Learning. The high potential education technologies, as well as their big challenges, are becoming more and more visible to everyone. There is an urgent need to join forces between public and private partners to ensure that together we can leapfrog to high quality education. Making rapid progress is essential to make more work and life opportunities attainable for everyone in the future. With our technologies, we are committed to significantly contribute to making high quality education accessible, engaging and useful to learners everywhere.
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