Adaptive Learning Software and Platforms

Adaptive learning software and platforms refer to the provision of technological solutions that cater to the individual needs of different types of learners. Even in earlier times when education was largely seen as restricted to formal institutions, with students coming from relatively homogeneous backgrounds, individual differences in the ways students learn effectively required different instructional strategies. With the globalization of education in recent years as a result of the Internet becoming a mainstream medium, the differences among learners have increased multifold.

It is very difficult if not impossible to meet the different needs of all students in traditional classroom-based instructional environments, where implementing different teaching strategies becomes prohibitively overburdening for the teachers, especially in classes with a large number of students. Adaptive learning software and platforms aim at providing instruction that fits the individual needs of students. Many adaptive learning platforms and software are Web-based to provide access anytime and anywhere and to make use of hypermedia formatting. The use of hypermedia facilitates students in navigating through a large amount of information in a hyperlinked information space using various visual navigational aids. Students are no longer bound to come [Page 8]to a particular space at a particular time (e.g., attending a lecture) to access relevant information. If portable devices are used by the students, there is even greater mobility and flexibility in the learning process.

Typical hypermedia systems have various drawbacks in the context of learning. While they are able to provide a large amount of content in an interconnected fashion, they depend on students’ ability to explore a vast amount of hyperlinked information space, with the risk of causing cognitive overload or getting them lost in hyperspace. Adaptive learning software and platforms overcome these drawbacks by providing customization. With appropriate learner profiling, such systems customize (or adapt and personalize) the learning experience by modifying the presentation, navigation, and other aspects of learning space to suit individual students. The terms customization, personalization, and adaptation all express a similar goal—to transform the information or learning material to a presentation that best meet the needs of the learners. Adaptive learning software and platforms, due to their ability to change the content and representations according to a student’s needs, resemble the situation when a personal instructor is available for each individual student.

Adaptive learning software and platforms take into account different student features when an adapting learning experiences for an individual student. Major features covered in the existing adaptive learning software and platforms can be categorized into four main categories: (1) learning styles, (2) cognitive abilities, (3) affective states, and (4) the context of the learning. This entry first focuses on these major features and then discusses the various implementations of adaptive learning software and platforms.