Instructor Limitations in Adaptive Learning
Do you think you have any limitations when considering implementing adaptive learning in your courses?
There are some courses which may be better suited to adaptive learning. One area that comes to mind is writing. It is difficult for any computer system to assess a students ability in writing.
I am just the opposite. I have a strong background in digital technologies and may almost be considered a digital native myself (or at least a cousin). I find that many of my limitations arise from dealing with the older generation of students who are not familiar with digital technologies.
Often times, many of these students would be able to learn the material, but the technology and techniques used get in their way. It's hard for students to learn material using technology, if they aren't familiar with using the tech in the first place.
I have seen many entry level classes focused on teaching basic technology proficiency, but these classes are not often prerequisites, even though the knowledge they provide is.
Adel ,
I agree with you that it is indeed difficult to do hands on practice in this environment.
Renee Shaffer
I work in a vocational school where the student learns by observation and hands on practice. While I see the value in this type of learning, it is difficult to see much use for it in vocational fields that are not technology based. It could be useful in our academic classes but would require an upgrade to our current technological systems and a great deal of time consuming training.
I see myself with significant limitations as far as my experience in the computer tech industry when it comes to implementing this system. However, my motivation to learn and experience more helps me seek out additional instruction to attempt to "keep up with" the "digital natives", and I find myself intrigued with coursed such as this.
Annette,
Yes, often times we don't know what we don't know. Things are ever changing at a rapid pace.
Renee Shaffer
Oh most definitely! Remember that this is all new in the world of education and even when you feel like you understand it, change is inevitable. That's the way technology is...ever-changing. So, one limitation is just trying to keep abreast of 'the latest and greatest'. The next challenge I see is continual training and support for faculty to enable them to understand the data, customize student support with the use of the data and accurately assess student performance/knowledge when assignments are completed outside of class. I feel that these are limitations because it doesn't solely rely on personal conclusions by the faculty and their own method of remediation to the student. They will be tasked with customizing their approach based off of computer system's data and its suggestion of where the student should be. In the past, this has been left up to the teacher to determine and nothing can replace human intuition, or verbal and non-verbal communication. Adaptive learning is an excellent idea to support teaching but administration must also be careful to avoid discounting the human approach based on data alone.
I think one of the biggest limitations will be keeping students motivated. Instructors play an important role in inspiring students and keeping them motivated. I feel that adaptive learning limits and jeopardizes this element, which can only really be achieved in my opinion through a face to face course. Student will have to find new methods of self motivation in order to succeed.
I have just started a course, that has an adaptive learning technology implemented. I see a lot of potential with it, but my biggest limitation so far is my lack of experience with learning the system. There are many things I can do, but with having little experience, I don't know what I am missing. I have had some training on it, but there is much more to learn. So, I guess my biggest limitation so far is my lack of experience
Rick,
Really good observations. The upcoming brave new world worries me a little bit.
Renee Shaffer
Hi Helen:
I do see the push towards AL technologies based heavily on cost control, with some of it based on standardizing the learning environment. The learning environment, the instructor, and the curriculum represent the three cost centers, while the student represents the revenue stream. Book publishers have been pushing to create AL systems because they can then be at the receiving end of much of the revenue.
I kind of think that, barring the concepts of accreditation, the book publishers would, if they could, eliminate the middle man completely - namely, us and provide curriculum (they already do this for the most part), the learning environment being online, and AL to replace the instructor. Now, I know that's only a very far-fetched theory, but that doesn't stop the publishers from pushing for just that.
In theory, an AL could be set up with the help of a knowledgeable IT team (very rare to find one adept to handle learning management systems) to functionally replace the instructor, but being in the tech biz for two decades, I know that NEVER worked. It doesn't work now. It won't work when we have that idyllic Star Trek universe. Computers still fail because the human mind is far to complex to be taught by algorithms.
For-profit schools continually dance on this problem of pure education vs. pure business profit, which is why retention seems to be much more important than student outcomes to a school, where the accrediting bodies see the reverse.
But one of the big things that I see in all of this is the concept of school franchising - or "assembly line education" that makes the entire concept of AL less motivating to me. There's a certain personalizing that occurs between student and teacher - and that gets lost in the interactions with the algorithm.
/rab
Helen,
Yes, those statistics don't always really show how well you are teaching the class. Unfortunately.
Renee Shaffer
Wow. Very thought provoking. I think colleges have already started the trend toward ALs with all of the on-line classes available. I think that is the perfect blend/example of facilitated courses. I do think that they will try to rely on more and more machine teaching and less and less human interactions for the money issue. I see IT and instructors working together to set up a class and after the bugs are worked out then neither of them is really needed again. Their role then would be updating and/or creating more classes. It will involve a lot less personnel and money which absolutely is the bottom line unfortunately.
As an instructor it is rewarding to see a failing student turn into a success but in the long run there are so many students that don't respond. My students have told me I am an inspiration and yet my retention rate is what I am evaluated on and if you look at that I am a complete failure. So I would love to see those students in AL but according to the literature they would not be appropriate candidates for AL either.
My background is very much hi-tech, having been in the IT industry for over 20 years. I see, time and time again, that people from various sectors of the world are trying to defer things to technology - that constant "we should develop a program that does ___" are words that I constantly hear.
Heck, when I see the concept of Decision Support System, I see a technology solution that is developed to compensate for a lack of human capability to make command decisions.
As a veteran IT professional teaching IT courses, no adaptive learning environment can completely take away all aspects of traditional instruction. Machine cannot connect with a student on an emotional level. No machine can inspire a human to excellence. No machine can generate that desire in a human that makes that human grow beyond his/her own knowledge and experience. Machines can convey knowledge, but growth is a human quality that cannot be replicated.
Machines should work. People should think. Education is based on thinking first. I certainly hope that I'm long dead and buried by the time humanity defers to technology to teach them, because that world doesn't appeal to me at all.
So my biggest limitation is that while I understand (and we see here) that AL's are not designed to become a surrogate instructor, institutions looking at the business of education (i.e. the bottom line) will be tempted to replace "instructors" with AL "facilitators" - not quite as experienced or knowledgeable as a true instructor. And with that downgrade in quality comes less cost. I tend to fight against that - because I don't believe its appropriate for machines to teach people. And in the end, students want to be taught, not "facilitated".
There are aspects of AL that I do like, but in the end, you can only have students if you have a teacher.
