Education and technology have formed a unique and often thrilling collaboration, which is growing as new educational technology businesses emerge throughout the world. However, as educational technology becomes more popular, it runs the danger of alienating teachers and transforming a solution into a new issue.
Education has embarked on the most momentous experiment in its history, the outcomes of which can only be observed as the experiment unfolds. This is true of both adaptive and algorithm-based learning, in which an algorithm needs input to create and apply a tailored learning plan.
Adaptive learning systems are rapidly gaining traction in the educational technology and educational publishing industries, and they are rapidly displacing assessment- and target-driven instructional marketplaces. They provide feasible alternatives to other programs and resources that drive up the expense of education tremendously. Adaptive learning programs are made to deal with this problem. Developers frequently collaborate with publishers and content providers, as well as assessment organizations and educational institutions.
Adaptive learning isn’t only a term for higher education anymore. It’s also employed in adult education, particularly when it comes to languages. However, the benefits of adaptive learning and related learning outcomes are not as straightforward as they look. This is because generating individualized learning plans necessitates continual on-screen involvement with instructional content as well as evaluations. However, the best learning happens when students communicate, solve issues, and argue reciprocally while being supervised and guided by a teacher.
Technology is also progressively defining how and what individuals learn in genuine adaptive learning settings, as well as detecting their educational capabilities and limitations. Both the advantages and disadvantages of this setting must be carefully considered by parents. Creating customized education programs centered on what your child currently knows and what he or she doesn’t know may sound appealing and promising. Developing a tailored strategy based on limited encounters with algorithm-fed machines, on the other hand, is a completely different story. This is where some humanity and modesty in technology would be beneficial.
It is fair to say that adaptive learning programs prefer math and STEM courses, which are better at dealing with algorithms than other disciplines. Linguistics and the humanities are gaining popularity, but they continue to provide a challenge to the algorithm.
One final topic to examine is the ethical implications of using big data in education. Based on how the data is utilized and perhaps commercialized, it’s unlikely to be considered a major issue among consenting individuals. But what about teenagers and young children? What algorithms are used to define, capture, and even anticipate their futures? What is the purpose of their data? It is, without a doubt, a serious ethical concern.
Adaptive learning programs, as well as the technology that supports them, are intriguing and exciting. They contain a plethora of promises and enhancements to learning results. More than ever, the world demands individuals who can communicate effectively, use life skills, solve issues, and think logically, whether in academics or their professions. Algorithms are incapable of developing or nurturing those qualities.