Education, learning and knowledge that our children acquire is directly related to their future. Equally important are the opportunities that they get to enhance intellectual growth as individuals. However, does the American Education Platform offer equal opportunities to all? Can America get rid of its socio-economic issues by fixing the present day EdTech?
It is obvious that the failing of our students on global performance standards is a direct reflection of the ineffectiveness of our present educational structure. We for sure know that the teachers are the first mentors who touch base with the corresponding and allied issue of inequality and various other socio-economic concerns. Since the basis of formation of an individual’s perspective and personality-traits takes shape at the schools, it would be safe to say that the inequality of perspectives, talent, and education, all must be moulded – or at least must be guided in the appropriate direction at the schools itself.
We have already explored the PISA results and ways to be unbeatable on global turfs. The figures from the Center For Education And Workforce of Georgetown University state that there was an 82 percent hike in the number of job openings for the students with a degree between 1989 and 2012. During the same period, the number of job openings for students with education qualification of high school or less declined to minus 14 percent.
As per Help Wanted Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018 nearly
$772 billion is depleted each year on the post-secondary training and education. The fact worth noting is that nearly 65% of this amount goes to the grooming outside of the school to those who impart the skills training to post-secondary students.
We bring to you the latest trend in education to break the old educational habits and prepare American youth for the future and at the same time, it even levels the socio-economic turf.
The adaptive learning platforms: Let’s us optimize education
If “No More Woof” can translate dog thoughts in to human language, data mining can alter and influence the practice of medicine, Google can understand human needs purely based on search algorithms, then why can the adaptive learning platforms not do the same.
The Adaptive Learning systems are based on individual algorithms developed from the test results recorded. The learning content for each student is personalized as it is based on his own past performance records. An absolute data of each student's weaknesses and strengths is generated, based on the student’s learning style and pace the system suggests and provides the learning content as well as the next level of test.
This is a continuous process; the adaptive learning platform synchronously records learning duration, type of learning, learning based on phonetics, and learning based on visuals, test scores, level of grasping, and knowledge acquired, etcetera of the each and every student.
As each student is different, it is practically impossible for a teacher to understand and comply with each student’s needs individually, in the classroom. Though with the assistance of the adaptive learning platform, teachers not just are able to help the students better, they can even understand individual educational needs of each student.
The study suggests that only one third of students present in a classroom are able to grasp what is taught at the normal pace. The other two third of the student either need faster pace or slower pace to understand the concept. As the adaptive learning process provides each student a personalized learning, it is a boon to the entire education industry. Adaptive learning software provides innovative and creative education resources to the teachers. They can be customized as per the school administrators or school district’s requirements. Usually, we see that such low-income schools are overcrowded with students and teachers and administrators have very limited time and resources. These customized education software makes a lot of difference in such schools that manage to survive on scarce resources.
Adaptive learning is the best way to optimize education. As the adaptive learning takes a leap in to the schools, students will get the benefit of both individual learning as well as learning in small groups. Teachers will be able to manage the each and every student and focus more on the students who need more help. Ultimately, all students gain deep-rooted knowledge enthusiastically, without the teachers being unnecessarily taxed.
The classrooms with the “blended learning classrooms” perform far better. Teachers are relaxed and happy as with adaptive learning platform they have time, energy, and resources to help students learn more of critical thinking and practical usability of the concepts.