Dive Brief:
- The Association of Public Land-grant Universities is opening a competitive grant process for member universities interested in adaptive learning for multiple general education courses or those with high failure rates.
- Inside Higher Ed reports that the grant, funded by $4.6 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will cover professional development for faculty and help member institutions create a model for faculty collaboration across universities by discipline.
- The APLU will accept up to six universities into the grant program that are interested in bringing adaptive learning to scale, asking them also to create online tools for proactive student advising.
Dive Insight:
Since many faculty are wary of adaptive learning, some think this project’s central role for faculty may help it succeed, as adaptive learning will shift the role of instructor and take buy-in at the classroom level for the best implementation. In the past, the APLU has worked with member universities to create experimental courses using adaptive learning software. The idea of bringing the technology to scale in large general education courses is exciting for proponents of the teaching method. Adaptive learning has been a hot topic in higher ed for at least the last few years, with plenty of tech companies jumping in to partner with schools.