[SeekAndFind]

RE: I even approached Pearson to put together a program to teach teachers to teach students how to use textbooks. Pearson does not care, as they sell textbooks whether kids use them or not, and digital is far more profitable.

I think Pearson is also into pedagogical materials. They recently acquired: SMART SPARROW , a company that develops ADAPTIVE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY.

They are developing educational methods using computers as interactive teaching devices, adapting educational material according to students' learning needs. The technology incorporates the interactivity previously only afforded by an actual human teacher, and integrates ideas from various fields, including computer science, education, and psychology.

May I ask your opinion of such technology? Will it work with current students? Can a teacher like you use this?

[nicollo]

Pearson has over the last decade bought up the print textbook industry and is now cornering the digital market.

Regardless, it needs to justify the move to digital, while at the same time diverting competition. Think Facebook’s purchase of Instagram or WhatsApp at ridiculous prices when there is little return inherent in those businesses — these were defensive buys.

There can be effective digital learning but it’s up to the student to make it work, schools and systems will not be able to deliver the learning. That’s what scares me the most, because our schools are awful at leveraging resources (so much waste) and all they do to resolve the problems created before is add more solutions that merely create new problems.

In my mind, Adaptive Learning Technology is a gimmick that can work with some but hardly all students. All learning is student-centered, therefore it’s entirely dependent upon the student to make it work, especially since our schools are lost.

[nicollo]

btw, all “adaptive learning” is is content, lessons and assessments that orient around assessment results. If Online courses are generally redundant, rote, and easily gamed.