Adaptive Learning

Arizona State U Teams with Private Partners on Adaptive Learning

• By Leila Meyer
• 04/08/15

Arizona State University (ASU) has partnered with Cengage Learning and Knewton to develop new active learning systems for introductory courses.

The goal of the partnership is to provide ASU students with personalized learning in introductory college courses and to let instructors spend more time supporting students and less time lecturing and managing the class. ASU's new "Active Adaptive" courses will use Knewton's adaptive learning platform within Cengage Learning's MindTap digital learning solution in an effort to achieve this goal.

Together, ASU, Cengage Learning and Knewton will develop a series of Active Adaptive general education courses. The first course will be an Active Adaptive Psychology course, which will launch in the fall. According to information from ASU, the course will feature "an adaptive learning loop built around every concept rather than just for extra practice."

"Students will get continuously updated recommendations for what to study at any given moment and instructors will get predictive analytics that help them intervene before a struggling student falls behind or an advanced student becomes disengaged," said Jose Ferreira, founder and CEO of Knewton, in a prepared statement.

ASU offers more than 90 completely online undergraduate and graduate programs that mirror their on-campus equivalents. The university plans to study the effects of the new delivery model in its on-campus, hybrid and online classes.