Hindustan Times (Bathinda)

Understand­ing and decoding the growing role of technology in personalis­ed learning

- Zishaan Hayath feedback@livemint.com Zishaan Hayath is CEO and cofounder, Toppr.com

India has over 400 million students in the schoolgoin­g age. 250 million of them currently go to schools. The typical classroom has one teacher and many students who follow a certain pace of learning every day. What many fail to see, is that each student is unique, with different strengths and weaknesses which defines his or her individual learning ability.

Personaliz­ed learning has helped mitigate this concern to a great degree. The growing contributi­ons of technology is a key catalyst in this change.

Today, some e-learning platforms are using advanced technology to personaliz­e the way students learn by analyzing their strengths and weaknesses and offering them tailored content that maximizes their learning efficiency. What is personaliz­ed learning and how is it reshaping education? Personaliz­ed learning deviates from the traditiona­l methods of classroom learning by offering students a more structured way of studying. It refers to a variety of educationa­l programs, learning experience­s, instructio­nal approaches and academic support strategies that address individual learning needs, abilities, strengths and weaknesses of students.

The use of technology has resulted in the creation of adaptive e-learning platforms that combine the above and then tailor them for each student. By using machine learning and artificial intelligen­ce, these platforms analyze user and behavioura­l data to understand user profiles and predict future responses.

This allows them to offer personaliz­ed educationa­l content that maximizes productivi­ty and efficiency. It also puts the onus of self-improvemen­t on students by giving them complete control over their learning. Understand­s students’ strengths and weaknesses: With personaliz­ed learning, students are now given the individual attention they need to alleviate their weaknesses and enhance their strengths. E-learning platforms help them make optimal use of their time and effort to achieve the best results while improving continuous­ly.

Allows them to progress at

own pace: Different students grasp and struggle with different concepts. No two are the same. E-learning platforms help them progress through educationa­l content in a manner that’s most conducive to their growth; without the fear of lagging behind their peers. Gives measurable

progress: Students can set their own academic goals and then go about achieving them in a systematic manner. The use of goalbased learning, with constructi­ve feedback and solutions, keeps them constantly motivated. Provides them with easy

tutoring: Parents enroll their children in tuition classes as it gives them the personal attention they need, along with an in-depth understand­ing of lessons taught in school. E-learning platforms better this by giving students the answers to their questions and doubts – in an interactiv­e manner – at any time of the day. Offers them the dual role of participan­t and contributo­r: Personaliz­ed learning allows students to be participan­ts as well as contributo­rs in their own learning process. This empowers them to continue putting in the hard work to gain new knowledge and skills. Assesses their performanc­e regularly: In traditiona­l learning, evaluation­s take place periodical­ly through exams. E-learning platforms create an environmen­t where students are not only assessed every day, but are also given tailored instructio­ns to keep improving. What are some of the problems addressed by technology in india? The introducti­on of technology has enhanced the prospects of personaliz­ed learning in India. While families in India were solely reliant on the traditiona­l offline learning pedagogies in the past, they have slowly bought into the benefits of e-learning. This has been made possible by solving certain key problems that have plagued the Indian education space. Solving the lack of quality

education: Good quality education is geographic­ally concentrat­ed in India. Many students in rural and remote areas do not have the same access to quality education as their urban counterpar­ts. Technology has brought world-class educationa­l content to these students. Together with personaliz­ed learning, it has tailored it to the needs of each unique student in these areas.

Bypassing the insufficie­ncy of teachers, study material and infrastruc­ture: The lack of infrastruc­ture is another matter that affects the way students learn. Without adequate resources and infrastruc­ture, teachers struggle to give students the attention they need. This in turn, demotivate­s students from attending school regularly. Technology has bypassed these limitation­s making personaliz­ed learning accessible through smartphone­s. Giving individual attention to many students at once: Whether students are studying in a class or at home, their learning is personaliz­ed to their own ability. Technology has made it possible to achieve great progress with many students at once, which was previously impossible due to a lack of time.

For India, that’s poised to have the largest student population in the world by 2025, this is the right time to strengthen the foundation of its future generation.

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