[I was unable to see/load/interact with the final discussion on your site for the ‘Considering the Limitations’ section, so I’ve just tagged my thoughts into this discussion]
Hi team, what a thorough OER you have produced. There was a seamless integration of explanatory, referenced and interactive content which made it easy to follow the logic of the OER and gain key insights into an industry I was quite unaware of. I think the major key lesson I have taken away here is that there is a lot of money and interest in Adaptive Learning ventures and acquisition. There also seems to be an equal effort to ensure usability which will be vital to this technologies success. However, I would like to see more independent research done on the topic as much of the research data is being produced by the companies themselves. I share some of the concerns about the ‘one size fits all’ model that adaptive (and personalized) learning promise and the limitations you outlined on the site. In my personal opinion, I think these technologies are going to be best suited to being blended into classrooms as support and development tools rather than a replacement of classrooms altogether. Also, I am reserving my judgements on their functionality until we can test them on a wider scale because I am doubtful if they check the boxes of the learning theories we identify as best suited to 21st century education, such as constructivism. This technology is amazing and could have widespread positive impact in educational realms but it would need to be designed to be a fully interactive experience. You outlined these types of shortcomes excellently in your research section as well. These aspects may not necessarily impact the economic success of these ventures as it certainly looks like they carry novelty and may reach wide global markets. For this reason, I would likely invest in these companies as a venture capitalist, but I wouldn’t necessarily be an advocate for them as an educator just yet. Thanks for such a well rounded exploration of adaptive learning!
