Chapter 7

Addressing the diverse needs of students

One of the biggest challenges facing teachers and school administrators today is the growing diversity of the students within their population. A greater diversity of students means a greater diversity of needs to consider. Some struggle because English is not their first language; others have difficulty with focus or organization. Others may be particularly weak in some area but possess unusual strengths in another.

Knewton adaptive learning allows teachers to address the needs of diverse students while gaining insight into the learning process. The platform may discover, for instance, that a student who is weak with math word problems is struggling because he has difficulty with reading comprehension; the system can then direct the teacher to specific material on syntax and vocabulary and suggest ways that the teacher might coach the student individually in these respects. Later, the instructor may be informed that another student who understands mathematical concepts but has trouble with carelessness in arithmetic should receive feedback about how to develop stronger estimation abilities or check work once completed. The instructor can then coach that student with a precise understanding of his particular weaknesses.

For example, the Knewton Math Readiness course dashboard includes an “on-track/off-track” concept to measure student progress through the course. This concept functions as a binary indicator that helps teachers efficiently grasp information about the class as a whole. Using this tool and others, teachers can see reporting data from two perspectives.

The whole class

The Knewton Math Readiness instructor dashboard includes a histogram which provides a big picture assessment of the whole class’ “track” status.

Using the dashboard, teachers can also see how students are performing in individual subject areas; which segments of material are the most and least challenging for students; and what kinds of patterns in both performance and activity emerge across the class. After multiple years of teaching the same course, teachers will be able to compare data from year to year. Knewton analytics will help them home in on useful information while leaving them free to interpret the results.

Individual students

While the reporting dashboard in Knewton Math Readiness is streamlined so that teachers can focus on the big picture, the dashboard also allows teachers to click into the interface and drill down to each student’s work in the system. Teachers can see how students have performed on specific quizzes and exams. If a student isn’t grasping the material, teachers can determine (using analytics that guide them to specific data points) where precisely any misunderstanding is occurring.

This capacity allows teachers to both address the diverse needs of students and better understand their content, so that they can refine it from year to year.

Improving & understanding content for long-term curriculum development

An instructor dashboard that measures the efficacy of content can help teachers determine the strongest and weakest aspects of their teaching materials. As described previously, Knewton adaptive learning can help teachers understand precisely what the content they are working with teaches and assesses. This ensures that content can be analyzed for fine-tuned improvements from year to year, and that students are never stuck with outdated or ineffective materials.

Want to learn more?

Knewton is building products and services that will make it easy for all publishers, teachers, and developers to use Knewton adaptive learning.

Whether you have an existing digital learning product or are looking to build a new online course, Knewton can provide continuously personalized recommendations for your students via the Knewton Adaptive Learning Platform.

We are currently working with partners in private beta, but will be expanding our partner program in the coming months.

Please let us know about your adaptive learning needs by filling out our partner survey.