What is Adaptive Education (AE)

The purpose of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHS) is to provide each learner with learning experiences which have been specially tailored to their specific learning requirements. While the concept of AEHS appears promising; AEHS are very complex systems to design and develop. This article reviews a few of the challenges encountered in the design and development of these complex systems and some of the challenges encountered by educators who propose to use AEHS with their students. A number of the skills required by educators to develop positive learning experiences are discussed. In order to successfully use AEHS educators must decide on what student characteristics to base the adaptive elements of the course. Educators may feel challenged to show the impact that AEHS can have on the learning experience. Educators may have a dilemma in deciding to allow or not to allow (1) students access to their user model and (2) students to edit their user model. Further research is required to explore why AEHS have not yet impacted education as initially expected.