Saturday, October 27, 2012

Education economics: Investments in e-learning may signal shift from professors to programs - ksssann, all voices

Last year, Pearson made waves when it announced it has partnered with Google to launch OpenClass, a free, cloud-based learning system. And shortly thereafter, the New Jersey-based publisher announced it was partnering with a software start-up called Knewton that specializes in adaptive learning. In the tradition-bound world of education, adaptive learning has raised more than its share of hackles. Embraced by college administrators because of the potential to cut costs, in faculty circles there is concern that adaptive learning programs could have an impact on jobs. In an adaptive learning program, a student is first given an online test that is assessed by the program, and an immediate “diagnosis” is generated, giving a profile of the skill level of each student and areas that need reinforcement. Based on this assessment, an online curriculum is generated, including a series of exercises and problems that build on each individual student’s knowledge, helping to develop the skills to reach the next level. http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13231709-education-economics-investments-in-elearning-may-signal-shift-from-professors-to-programs