Adaptive learning featured in HarvardX course
The Harvard University strategic initiative HarvardX is running a massive open online course (MOOC) that features adaptive learning and assessment algorithms that tailor course material in response to student performance. “Adaptive learning functionality,” through which a computer system can fit learning experiences to the needs of each student, had not been offered previously in a HarvardX course and is featured in a few courses across the edX online learning platform. But it is being used in “Super-Earths and Life,” taught by Harvard’s Phillips Professor of Astronomy Dimitar Sasselov. The presentation is designed to gain a preliminary assessment of the technological feasibility and implications of adaptive functionality to online course design. Depending on the results, the technology may expand to other HarvardX MOOCs. “Adaptive learning programs are very good at speeding up information acquisition and lengthening retention, as well as individualizing learning to help learners see where they have difficulty,” said Peter K. Bol, Harvard’s vice provost for advances in learning (VPAL) and Charles...