Digital Learning Initiatives

Adaptive Courseware

In the summer of 2016, Northern Arizona University was one of eight institutions selected by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) to participate in a three-year project designed to improve undergraduate education through the use of adaptive courseware. APLU’s Personalized Learning Consortium is overseeing the grants, which are funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition to NAU, grants were awarded to Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Georgia State University, Oregon State University, Portland State University, University of Louisville, and the University of Mississippi.

Adaptive courseware personalizes learning by dynamically adjusting the path and the pace of content delivery according to the performance of the student. The software moves past areas where the student has achieved mastery and focuses on areas where the student needs to develop a deeper understanding. Such tools can help with the appropriate placement of students into courses for which they are academically prepared to be successful, and can identify areas of weakness that can be remediated while the student is taking the course.

Adaptive courseware doesn’t replace the instructor but can act as an effective diagnostic tool and self-study component of a face-to-face course, and therefore represents a form of blended learning, where some percentage of classroom seat time can be replaced by online work conducted at the student’s personal pace and at the appropriate degree of difficulty.

NAU has begun work on seven of the originally identified fourteen candidate courses and on several others new to our list. The courses come from a broad spectrum across the natural, social, and health sciences as well as the humanities and business. The e-Learning Center (ELC) working with the First Year Learning Initiative (FYLI), a faculty-created program designed to ensure that key lower-division courses are coordinated across sections and utilize evidence-based pedagogy, is redesigning these courses to maintain the coordination and the standards embodied in the FYLI program, while also effectively applying adaptive learning strategies, tools and techniques. For Fall 2017, we anticipate full implementation across all sections of BIO 181, BIO 182, CHM 151, and PSY 240, with selected sections using partial deployment in GLG 112, and PHI 150. In Spring 2018 we will add CHM 152 to the fully deployed list and NTS 135, PHY 262, and PSY 101 to the partial list.

If you’re interested in learning more about adaptive courseware at NAU, contact the e-Learning Center.

Course	Description	Discipline	Deployed	Vendor	Enrolled Annually
BIO 181	Unity of Life: Cell Life	Biology	Fall 2017	Learn Smart	2593
BIO 182	Unity of Life: Multicellular Organisms	Biology	Fall 2017	Learn Smart	1304
CHM 151	General Chemistry I	Chemistry	Fall 2017	ALEKS	1847
CHM 152	General Chemistry II	Chemistry	Spring 2018	ALEKS	981
GLG 112	Geologic Disasters	Geology	Spring 2018	Smart Sparrow	1797
ISM 120	Intro to Computer Information Systems	Business	Fall 2017	Pearson	1865
PHI 150	Philosophies of the World	Philosophy	Fall 2017	Smart Sparrow	772
PHY 111	General Physics I	Physics	Spring 2018	Pearson	662
PHY 161	University Physics I	Physics	Spring 2018	Pearson	518
PHY 262	University Physics II	Physics	Fall 2017	Pearson	520
PSY 101	Introduction to Psychology	Psychology	Spring 2018	Open	2331
PSY 240	Developmental Psychology	Psychology	Fall 2017	Learn Smart	951
NTS 135	Applied Nutrition and Food Selection	Health Sciences	Spring 2018	Learn Smart	216

A Definition of Blended Learning

The term blended learning has many definitions and can encompass many forms of course delivery. In the fall of 2013 the Blended Learning Leadership Team (BLLT), a group of faculty who teach using a blended approach met to define what blended learning means on the NAU campus. The BLLT also identified core principles that are found in well-designed blended courses. In addition, the team explicated the role of students and faculty in blended courses.

NAU defines blended learning as an approach that combines the best elements of face-to-face teaching with a variety of technologies, resulting in increased learning effectiveness and improved efficiency. Ideally, a blended course at NAU replaces 50% of the conventional class time with out-of-class activities. However, a course that replaces as little as 25% of the seat time with out-of-class activities can still be considered blended.

Examples of effectiveness include

greater student engagement
increased student learning

Examples of efficiency include

reallocation of faculty time toward high-value activities such as research or intensive interaction with students
differentiated instructional roles, which allow collaborative faculty members to contribute their greatest strengths to courses
reduced Carnegie seat time
coordination across multisection courses to eliminate duplication of effort

Roles of faculty and students in blended learning

In successfully blended courses, faculty are expected to

apply academic rigor
intentionally design learning activities and assessments that are well aligned with the intended learning outcomes
create opportunities for students to have meaningful interactions with content, with other students, and with faculty

Students are expected to

take responsibility for their own learning
demonstrate appropriate motivation
participate in active inquiry

Characteristics of successfully blended courses

A blended course has deemed a success when it leads to these results:

students achieve the intended learning outcomes
students are actively engaged in the learning process
classroom interactions are dynamic rather than passive
face-to-face instruction is carefully integrated with appropriately used technology
efficiency is achieved