Adaptive Technologies and the Path to Personalized Learning - A conversation with Meaghan Duff
Channel: Center for Online Innovation in Learning
Date: 2015-12-04

New technologies and new media have rapidly changed the way students access information and learn outside the classroom. For better or worse, the pace of change inside our universities has occurred much more slowly. The learning management systems in place on today’s campuses offer few usable tools for guiding students efficiently through a learning experience, presenting content appropriate to their individual knowledge and skills, and signaling when learners require additional support. They fail to address the great question confronting public university educators, especially instructors teaching large 100- and 200-level general education courses: what do my students already know and what do they need to learn?

The next generation of education technologies promises end-user tools that help educators assess student learning in real time and support students in guiding themselves. Broadly characterized as “adaptive learning platforms” or “adaptive courseware,” these solutions challenge faculty and pedagogical experts to reconsider their roles as content authors, teachers, tutors, graders, and overall creators of an education experience. During this COIL Conversation Meaghan Duff will consider the pedagogical, organizational, and personal implications of this new technology.

Meaghan Duff, Ph.D., leads the Personalized Learning Consortium (PLC) at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), a research, policy, and advocacy organization representing 238 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and affiliated organizations. Founded in 1887, APLU is North America’s oldest higher education association. Annually, member campuses enroll 4.7 million undergraduates and 1.3 million graduate students, award 1.2 million degrees, employ 1.2 million faculty and staff, and conduct $42.7 billion in university-based research. The PLC comprises 20+ public research universities and serves as a coordinating body to foster multi-institutional cooperation and collaboration that will advance the use of information technology to improve student learning, retention, and graduation. Prior to joining APLU, Meaghan spent twelve years at Blackboard Inc. in consulting, business and corporate development roles. She began her career as a professor of early American history.

To learn more, visit our website: http://coil.psu.edu/

This video is available in alternative media upon request. Please contact coil-accessibility@psu.edu with any accessibility requests and we will be happy to assist you.