Page 240 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

234 13 Emerging Issues in Educational Technology
13.2.4 Adaptive Learning

Adaptive learning technologies refer to software and online devices and environ-
ments that adjust to individual needs (Di et al., 2016). The start of the work on
adaptive and intelligent learning systems is usually traced back to the SCHOLAR
intelligent tutoring system (see http://scholar.hw.ac.uk/) that offered adaptive
learning for the topic of the geography of South America (Carbonell, 1970).
Adaptive learning is a sophisticated, data-driven, and in some cases, nonlinear
approach to instruction and remediation, adjusting to a learner’s interactions and
demonstrated performance level, and subsequently anticipating what types of
content and resources learners need at a specific point in time to make progress. In
this sense, contemporary educational tools are now capable of learning the way
people learn. Adaptive devices are enabled by machine learning technologies that
develop a rich profile of the learner including prior knowledge and interests.
Adaptive devices can adapt to each student’s progress and interests and adjust
content in real time as well as customize exercises appropriate for a specific learner.
Many educators envision these adaptive platforms as tutors that can provide per-
sonalized instruction on a large scale. Currently, several systems and platforms
providing adaptation to users’ learning styles, cognitive abilities, affective states,
and the context of the learning have been created (Wang & Wu, 2011; Yang,
Hwang, & Yang, 2013). In addition, many of the adaptive learning systems that
incorporate learning styles are based on the notion that matching the learning
strategies with the learning styles can improve learner performance; examples
include MANIC (Stern & Woolf, 2000). MANIC is a Web-based instructional
system which provides lecture-based material. In MANIC, the adaptation is
achieved by providing different media representations for each learner.

Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003)
Diffusion of innovations is a theory that aims to clarify how, why, and at what
rate new ideas and technology spread. In Everett Rogers’s book Diffusion of
Innovations, which was first published in 1962 and is now in its fifth edition,
Rogers claims that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is com-
municated over time among the participants in a social system. The beginning
of the Diffusion of Innovations theory is diverse and spanning many
disciplines.
Diffusion occurs through a five-step decision-making process. It occurs
through a series of communication channels over a period of time among the
members of a similar social system. Rogers’ five stages (steps): awareness,
interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption are integral to this theory. Diffusion of
Innovations has been applied to numerous contexts, such as technology
promotion with a particularly large impact on the use of technology.