Fundamentals, Flavors, and Foibles of Adaptive Instructional Systems

Adaptive instructional interventions have traditionally been provided by a human tutor, mentor, or coach; but, with the development and increasing accessibility of digital technology, technology-based methods of creating adaptive instruction have become more and more prevalent. The challenge is to capture in technology that which makes individualized instruction so effective. This paper will discuss the fundamentals, flavors, and foibles of adaptive instructions systems (AIS). The section on fundamentals covers what all AIS have in common. The section on flavors addresses variations in how different AIS have implemented the fundamentals, and reviews different ways AIS have been described and classified. The final section on foibles discusses whether AIS have met the challenge of improving learning outcomes. There is a tendency among creators and marketers to assume that AIS—by definition—support better learning outcomes than non-adaptive technology-based instructional systems. In fact, the evidence for this is rather sparse. The section will discuss why this might be, and potential methods to increase AIS efficacy.

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