NC State University Partners with Adapt Courseware to Secure Adaptive Learning Grant
Rochester, NY (PRWEB) October 22, 2013 -- Adapt Courseware, the provider of comprehensive adaptive online curriculum resources that individualize each student’s learning experience, today announced that North Carolina State University's proposal featuring Adapt Courseware was awarded one of fourteen grants offered by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of its Adaptive Learning Market Acceleration Program. The grant program is designed to help colleges and universities across the nation understand the implementation of adaptive learning and rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of adaptive learning as a strategy to increase student success in key remedial and general education undergraduate courses.
"We are investigating how best to leverage new technologies to enable our students to benefit from more personalized and immediate online instruction and feedback,” said Dr. Jeff Braden, psychologist and dean of NC State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. "Adaptive learning may prove to be an effective learning experience that meets each individual's unique needs while also serving far more students more efficiently and affordably. We are pleased to partner with Adapt Courseware as we explore innovative new ways for students to learn and instructors to teach."
Throughout the two-year study, students at NC State will participate in adaptive learning sections of Adapt Courseware's Introduction to Psychology, comparing outcomes with students who participate in more traditional lecture-format sections. NC State will measure whether adaptive learning can work as well or better than standard classroom instruction based on exams, grades, completion rates, and faculty and student feedback.
According to a report from Education Growth Advisors, "Learning to Adapt: The Case for Accelerating Adaptive Learning in Higher Education," which was in part commissioned by the Gates Foundation, adaptive learning has the potential to significantly help schools address educational costs, quality, and access. In its follow-up paper, “Learning to Adapt: Understanding the Adaptive Learning Supplier Landscape," Education Growth Advisors highlighted Adapt Courseware's model.
Adapt Courseware has published a number of validation studies demonstrating higher student completion, retention, and success rates using its adaptive learning courseware when compared to traditional online courses. Adapt Courseware's approach combines instructional design principles such as effective multimedia, optimal challenge, student choice, mastery learning, and social learning to deliver a learning experience that is more productive and engaging.
"Dean Braden and the NC State team are committed to making sure students learn in the most effective way and to giving instructors tools that best support the learning process," said Dr. John Boersma, CEO of Adapt Courseware and a former university faculty member. "Having been at the front of the classroom for years, I know how important it is to engage students on an individual basis. We are excited to collaborate with NC State and believe that together we can make a significant contribution to the personalization of education that in turn produces better results."
Boersma continued, "The industry is fortunate to have support from organizations like Education Growth Advisors and the Gates Foundation. We are grateful for their help in elevating the presence of adaptive learning to an even bigger stage, and making it possible for institutions, instructors, and students alike to take learning to the next level."
About Adapt Courseware
Adapt Courseware individualizes the learning experience for each student based on academic abilities and needs. The company offers complete, customizable, adaptive online curriculum resources that combine proven learning science with advanced multimedia techniques to help students achieve mastery learning. With Adapt Courseware, colleges and universities can realize measurable learning outcomes, increased student retention, and higher student satisfaction.
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Kristi Emerson, Adapt Courseware, http://www.adaptcourseware.com, 303-885-9896, [email protected]
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