Yixue Adaptive Learning System and Its Promise on Improving Student Learning

Adaptive learning systems offer personalized learning experience to students’ characteristics and abilities. Studies have shown these systems can be effective learning tools. Many schools in the United States have adopted adaptive learning systems. Yet development of such systems is still in the early stage in China, and little empirical evidence exists on their efficacy. This paper describes an adaptive learning system, YiXue, and presents two studies that were conducted in China to establish the promise of YiXue adaptive learning platform and two comparison learning platforms used in an after-school English language arts course. The results were promising: student learning efficiency was significantly higher with YiXue than with the comparison platforms. Survey responses suggested that students in the treatment group felt more positive about their learning experience.