Personalized and Adaptive Math Learning: Recent Research and What It Means for Your Students

Personalized and Adaptive Math LearningRecent Research and What It Means for Your Students

Tim Hudson, PhDVice President of LearningDreamBox Learning@DocHudsonMath

Define Personalized Learning and Adaptive LearningPresent recent third-party research findingsInterpret research studies involving digital programs in which students are learning along a personalized path and paceShare ideas for conducting evaluations of adaptive or personalized programs in your own contextUnderstand the importance of classroom teachers in implementing adaptive math programs, whether in a blended learning model or not

DefiningPersonalized Learning

one would think that by 2025, age-graded schools and the familiar teaching and learning that occurs today in K-12 and universities would have exited the rear door. Not so.Blended instruction, personalized learning, and flipped classrooms will reinforce the age-graded school, the 19th century organizational innovation that is rock-solid in 2015.

Larry Cuban, December 2015Stanford University, Professor Emeritus of EducationFrom Predictions, Dumb and Otherwise, about Technology in Schools in 2025www.larrycuban.wordpress.comNext Generation Learning & Schooling is at Risk

Todays Lesson: Fraction Operations

I havent learned anything new all year. This math class is boring.This is way too hard. It doesnt make sense.I give up!This math class is just right for me not too hard, not too easy.Todays Lesson: Fraction Operations

Todays Lesson: Fraction OperationsWhy?

Todays Lesson: Fraction OperationsWhy?These students were all born during the same 12-month window about 11 years ago.

Seat-time policies, pacing calendars, standardized testing schedules, age-based classrooms and weak competency-based tools make it difficult for me to personalize and differentiate.

Personalized (Relational)Impersonal (Industrial)SchoolingStructures fromAdults



Two Students. Millions of Self-Directed Learning Paths.

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The Pacing Calendaris Here

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Personalized (Relational)Impersonal (Industrial)SchoolingStructures fromAdultsLearningPedagogy withStudents

Todays Lesson: Fraction OperationsMath is boring. Every math class is the same: Lecture, practice, lecture, practice, quiz, test. Its not engaging, active, or authentic.I know how to win at school. I just wait for the teacher to show me how to solve familiar problems.Math doesnt make any sense. I cant figure it out or understand it.

Personalized (Relational)Impersonal (Industrial)LearningPedagogy withStudentsSchoolingStructures fromAdults


BlendedBlendedPersonalized (Relational)Impersonal (Industrial)LearningPedagogy withStudentsSchoolingStructures fromAdults

BlendedBlended

Is there an app for this?



Is there an app for this?Personalized (Relational)Impersonal (Industrial)LearningPedagogy withStudentsSchoolingStructures fromAdults

BlendedBlended






DefiningAdaptive Learning

Adaptive asAssessment DiagnosticGiving a student slightly harder or easier problems next

Adaptive asUnlocking Levels

Move at your own pace in a linear fashion upon completion

Adaptive asRecommendationMaking recommendations for lessons, videos, readings, or assignments to do next, often crowd-sourced and/or using big data algorithms to choose content.

Adaptive asBehavior Reinforcement

Conditioning the mind to remember information using tiny, incremental skill steps given to students in repetitive feedback loopshttp://teorije-ucenja.zesoi.fer.hr/doku.php?id=instructional_design:programmed_instruction

Seymour Papert, February 29, 1928 July 31, 2016The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge.S. Papert (1993). The childrens machine: Rethinking schools in the age of the computer. New York: Basic Books.

Seymour Papert, February 29, 1928 July 31, 2016S. Papert. Constructionism vs. Instructionism. http://www.papert.org/articles/const_inst/const_inst1.htmlBut children, what can they make with mathematics? Not much. They sit in class and they write numbers on pieces of paper. That's not making anything very exciting. So we've tried to find ways that children can use mathematics to make something -- something interesting, so that the children's relationship to mathematics is more like the engineer's, or the scientist's, or the banker's, or all the important people who use mathematics constructively to construct something.

What happens in each lesson?

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True virtual manipulatives allow more than simply a viewing of objects on the computer screen. They allow increased engagement, forcing the user to interact with dynamic objects. Through this interaction students have opportunities to make meaning and see relationships as a result of their own actions. And it is this interactive engagement with a dynamic representation that is the key to the knowledge construction process.From Virtual Manipulatives In The K-12 Classroom, Moyer, Bolyard, Spikell, 2002

Truly Adaptive Learning Technology requires dynamic content that is built from the ground up to invite, analyze and respond to a learners initial conceptions and support their developing ideas.

Recent Research aboutPersonalized Learning& Adaptive Learning

Tools for Interpreting Similar Studies

DREAMBOX LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT GROWTH in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education

Key FindingsTechnicalAppendix(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth

http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth8/2/1631

Other Resources

Lessons Learned From Early Implementations of Adaptive CoursewareCollege-Level Study found no discernible impact on grades or course completionConducted by SRI. 19,500 students, 280 instructors, 14 universities, April 2016https://www.sri.com/sites/default/files/brochures/almap_final_report.pdfEdSurge Adaptive Learning Overviewhttps://www.edsurge.com/research/special-reports/adaptive-learning/

Conducted by the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University3,000 Students in Grades 3-52 School Systems100 Classrooms2013-14 & 2014-15NWEA MAP, PARCC, and State Assessments7 Key FindingsQuasi-Experimental Analysis

How did HCPSS and Rocketship elementary schools implement DreamBox in their classrooms over these two years? What was the relationship between DreamBox usage and achievement gains on interim and end-of-year assessments for students in these schools? Was DreamBox adoption causally related to changes in students achievement?Guiding Research Questions

(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Technical Appendix, page 1.

where 75% or more of the students used DreamBox during a particular school year. Within these using-classrooms, we did not impose any artificial minimum on the amount of usage for a student to be included in the sample, so we could capture the full range of usage patterns in classrooms in which 75% or more of students had some DreamBox usage.Treatment Group: Students in Using Classrooms

(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Technical Appendix, page 2

Usage by Site and Year

(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Technical Appendix, page 3

Key Finding 1: Below Recommended Usage(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 2

Key Finding 3: Usage was driven by teacher- and school-level practices instead of student preferences(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 2.

ImplicationMore than half of the variance in usage from one student to another depended on the specific teacher working with them or the school they attended.

Teachers and Administrators play a key role in defining a schedule that provides time for personalized learning and access to devices for the digital components of blended learning.

(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 1

Key Finding 2: Usage in some schools was to support low-achieving students and after-school learning.(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 1

Your Pacing Calendaris Here

Key Findings 4 & 5More usage resulted in larger achievement gainsCompleting recommended lessons resulted in faster achievement gains(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 3


RocketshipHoward CountyYear2013-142014-15Average Time Using DreamBox6.3 hours7.1 hoursStarting Percentile5050Ending Percentile5454-55AssessmentCST (California)PARCC


RocketshipHoward CountyYear2013-142014-15Average Time Using DreamBox6.3 hours7.1 hoursStarting Percentile5050Ending Percentile5454-55AssessmentCST (California)PARCC

RocketshipHoward CountyYear2013-142014-15Time in DreamBox Recommended LessonsAllAllAverage Percentile Point Gain5.89.8AssessmentCST (California)PARCC

Key Question: ValidationEducators often wonder whether progress as measured by educational software translates into student progress on interim and state assessments.As a result, we examined whether the amount of progress students made through the DreamBox curriculum was related to achievement gains on state tests and interim assessments.(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 3

Key Finding 6: DreamBoxs progress measurement was positively associated with achievement gains on state tests and interim assessments(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 3

DreamBox data about a 3rd Grade Student

Key Finding 6: DreamBoxs progress measurement was positively associated with achievement gains on state tests and interim assessments(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 3

RocketshipHoward CountyYear2014-152014-15DreamBox Curriculum Completed at the Students Grade Level12.5%10%NWEA MAP Average Percentile Point Increase31.5PARCC Average Percentile Point Increase--3.5

Importantly, we also found that progress below grade level was related to increased performance on both assessments in HCPSS.

ImplicationPrior knowledge is a key driver of future learning.Personalized Learning and Adaptive Learning technologies can support on-grade level achievement even when students dont reach far into their grade-level curriculum.Real-time differentiation with technology honors students prior knowledge as they move at their own pace.

Key Finding 7: Evidence for causal impact is encouraging but mixedOther VariablesStudent motivationTeacher effectivenessStudent study habits

Control via a Natural ExperimentIn HCPSS, compare the gains of students in classrooms using DreamBox to the gains of students in similar classrooms in schools that did not use DreamBox.Note: All students in Rocketship used DreamBox

(2016). DreamBox Learning Achievement Growth in the Howard County Public School System and Rocketship Education . Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Key Findings, page 3

http://cepr.harvard.edu/publications/dreambox-learning-achievement-growth, Technical Appendix, page 13

Considerations for Designing & Conducting Your Own StudiesRandomized Controlled Trials are difficult and often inadvisable in many education contextsQuasi-Experimental Studies need valid comparison groups (quasi-control and quasi-treatment groups)Case Studies often have no comparison group, which must be considered when interpreting any potentially causal impactCreate unbiased treatment and control groups (i.e., no minimum restrictions on the amount of curriculum completed or only considering students who are on grade level in the program)Use same-student comparisons, not averages of a classroom, grade level, or school, nor different cohort comparisonsConsider growth from each students baseline

Questions

Tim Hudson, PhDVice President of LearningDreamBox Learning@DocHudsonMath

Thank You!

DreamBox Learning K8 MathTransformative Learning Experiences available in English & Spanish

DreamBox Learning provides a new class of intelligent adaptive learning technology is the true game changer in education. Combines 3 essential elements

1) Mathematics- CCSSM & Standards for Mathematical Practice- unlike other programs that provide drill and practice DreamBox builds both conceptual understanding and procedural fluency

2) Motivating (persist and progress)

3) Powerful intelligent adaptive learning engine providing millions of personalized learning pathseach onetailored to a students unique needs.

Notes: DreamBox curriculum aligns with these Common Core Standards: Counting and Cardinality, Comparing, Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, and Number and Operations in Fractions.8/2/1653

DreamBox Lessons & Virtual ManipulativesIntelligently adapt & individualize to:Students own intuitive strategiesKinds of mistakesEfficiency of strategyScaffolding neededResponse time

Ive tried teaching this topic with pencil, paper, and plastic manipulatives for twenty years and students have never really gotten it. I can immediately see that DreamBox has invented new, digital manipulatives and games that are far more powerful for student learning. Urban District Math Leader, CA

Truly Adaptive Learning Technology requires dynamic content that is built from the ground up to invite, analyze and respond to a learners initial conceptions and support their developing ideas.8/2/1654

AssignFocus

Differentiated assignments for every student through your Insight DashboardTo accelerate learning, offer remediation, and adjust classroom instruction

With our AssignFocus feature, you can create an assignment to introduce or reinforce concepts, to fill learning gaps, or provide an additional challenge. DreamBox Learning enables you to automatically differentiate lessons for your entire class, small group, or an individual student directly from your Insight Dashboard. With over 2,300 engaging, standards-aligned lessons that are proven to build problem solving strategies, hone critical-thinking skills, and develop math fluency, you know have a powerful new way to provide instruction, practice, and

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Prepare for the Next Unit

Homework Assignment

Review for AssessmentEmpowered Teaching with Data.Inspired Learning with Technology.

iNACOL is right around the corner Catch us at @DreamBox_Learn Learn more and see how it works:www.DreamBox.com/request-a-demo

Efficacy: Independent Validation from SRI and from CEPR at Harvard University

A NEW study from the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University suggests DreamBox Learning Math increases student outcomes. Study suggests students using DreamBox Learning Math for 14 hours can increase achievement on NWEA MAP assessments by nearly 4 percentile points. You can download the study on our site to learn more or request a demo to see how DBL works!

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We value your feedback!Let us know how were doing:www.surveymonkey.com/r/GC6ZCM7

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