Learners and Instructional Control in Adaptive Systems

An adaptive system is a means for delivering instruction that attempts to recognize, reconcile, and leverage individual learner differences. Instructional researchers once focused their efforts on finding a universal, best method, for delivering instruction. However, the futility of that quest soon became apparent. Instructional goals and their associated contexts diverge from one another to such an extent that logic does not support the notion that a particular method would consistently be superior. Evidence does not support that a decontextualized instructional tactic has merit on its own accord. Instructional practice has long supported the determination that different learning outcomes require particular instructional interventions; different instructional objectives require different instructional tactics.

Adaptive instruction is a natural outgrowth of this principle. If content requires differential instruction, so might the ...