Adaptive Learning in Developmental Education

Developmental education, also known as remedial education, has long been a significant pain point for colleges and universities and a weak link in their ability to foster student success. Students do not like taking what are often non-credit courses to qualify for credit programs, and faculty often do not like teaching in programs with such high historical drop-out and failure rates. Furthermore, with recent attention being brought to higher education’s ability to retain students, developmental education has once again come into the spotlight.

In the current focus on developmental education, however, we see considerable potential for adaptive technologies to raise the rate of student success – first for developmental education students and later for all students. Providers of these technologies have created a set of individualized learning tools that enable students to acquire help precisely where they need it, even as they reduce dependence on costly faculty time and attention. Events across K-12 and higher education converge to make this an opportune time as they create and grow a “bridge market” in grades 9 to 14 that spans the two education sectors.

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This research brief covers the role of adaptive learning technologies in sparking new opportunities for providers and institutions to work together productively in 2013 and beyond. Download the full white paper »