Adaptive Learning

Wiley Launches Adaptive Calculus Courseware Built on Knewton Alta

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 02/07/20

Last year, Wiley acquired Knewton. Now the company has announced the first curriculum to be built on Alta, Knewton's adaptive technology, since the acquisition. Knewton Alta Calculus is intended to stem the failure rate of students tackling what is considered one of the most difficult foundational courses. (The Mathematical Association of America took the issue so seriously, it produced a 180-page report in 2017 on how to revamp the teaching of the subject so that more students were successful.)

The new courseware delivers an interactive experience that's tailored to each student's learning process, skill level and syllabus requirements. It also gives teachers the ability to modify the courseware based on preference and class needs.

While each student begins the use of the program with the same assigned topic, from there, the path diverges depending on what the student understands or not (based on answering questions). The courseware uses more than 100,000 assessment items to pinpoint skills gaps and intervenes with instruction and interactive activities as soon as the student needs them. The goal is to make sure the instruction doesn't move on before the student has proven mastery in each learning area.

The program also gives teachers visibility into their students' overall performance through a dashboard that helps them understand where students are excelling and struggling so they can revise their lessons accordingly.

"Wiley is committed to providing students with the tools needed to succeed in the high-demand, high-growth fields that are driving our world forward," said Matt Leavy, executive vice president of education publishing for Wiley. "The new Knewton Alta Calculus course empowers instructors and their students to troubleshoot common hurdles and build a knowledge base in calculus that's essential to pursuing a lifelong career in STEM."