Adaptive Teaching
Adaptive Teaching
Adaptive teaching is a teaching strategy that adapts the teaching methodologies and the students' learning experiences to the needs of the individual learners. It is characterized by flexibility and responsiveness, thus enabling instructors to modify their plan of actions in light of the students' strengths, deficiencies, and preferences in learning, and consequently, it improves the overall learning process.
What are the key principles of adaptive teaching?
The adaptive teaching strategies of the main components are differentiated instruction, formative assessment, and scaffolding. Differentiated instruction alters content, processes, and products based on students' readiness levels. To collect feedback from interventions formative assessments are used so that teachers can change planning dynamically. Scaffolding which is a term that describes temporary support systems helps students finish tasks that they can't do alone. In the course of time the support is gradually removed as students become more competent.
How can teachers implement adaptive teaching in the classroom?
Adaptive teaching can be initiated by teachers in the process of first determining the students' current knowledge and learning preferences through self-surveys or diagnostic tests. Then they can classify students who have similar needs, teach a variety of methods such as visual aids, hands-on activities, or technology, and support flexible grouping to create peer cooperation. A math teacher for instance might employ tiered assignments for example where the gifted students are given more challenging problems while others work on their basic skills.
What technologies support adaptive teaching?
The technology that accompanies the implementation of adaptive teaching also includes learning management systems (LMS), educational programs, and adaptive learning platforms. The majority of the tools make use of the algorithm programs that provide personal learning experiences according to individual learners' progression and choices. To illustrate, platforms like Khan Academy or DreamBox Learning are capable of changing the tasks' difficulty levels independently providing specific feedback and materials to students so they remain actively engaged and challenged.
What are the benefits of adaptive teaching for students?
A major reason why adaptive teaching is beneficial is that it increases the engagement of students, gives them the chance to learn according to their interest and levels and finally helps them by enhancing the academic performance. When the learning styles and speeds of the students are met, they become more interested and they can keep the knowledge for a longer time. A good illustration of this is a student who has difficulty reading. In addition to the use of audio texts, the student could also use visual aids which are essential for the student to comprehend better and ultimately have a good attitude towards learning.