Is Adaptive Learning Really Happening?

Before we dive in, let me ask you to revisit a memory.

You probably remember the last time you were in a classroom — maybe as a student, teacher, or parent. But do you remember your first time? The first homework assignment you ever brought home? The first test you took?

For me, that was almost 25 years ago.

Since then, I’ve stayed close to the world of education — not just through my own path, but through the school journeys of my siblings and nephews, and through my wife, who teaches English as Second Language to elementary students.

Thinking about how little some classroom dynamics have changed in all this time, it’s hard not to notice that most schools still present the same content, at the same pace, in the same way — to all students, all at once. Some finish quickly and get bored. Others fall behind in silence.

Teachers, often real-life superheroes, do their best to balance the gaps, but they can’t perform miracles. The system simply isn’t designed for individualization, especially not at scale.

In Brazil, this challenge feels even more urgent. The contrast between public and private schools, urban and rural communities, and regions with vastly different resources makes the one-size-fits-all model not just ineffective — but unfair.

That’s where personalized learning comes in. The idea of tailoring education to each student’s needs feels not only promising, but necessary.

What personalization is — and why it matters?

At its core, it’s the idea of adjusting the learning experience to fit the individual. That means changing the pace, the content, or even the type of feedback based on how each student is doing.

It’s not about throwing more digital content at learners. It’s about offering the right content, at the right time — in a way that actually connects with where they are.

Adaptive learning systems take that concept a step further. They track how students respond to questions, how long they take, where they struggle — and use that data to shape what comes next. Some adjust difficulty, others recommend different activities, formats, or explanations.

Of course, I know teachers and schools aren’t working in a vacuum. There are tight calendars to follow, official content to cover, and national standards to meet. Most teachers already do a heroic job balancing all that.

That’s why I don’t see adaptive systems as a replacement for classroom teaching — but as a partner. A well-designed tool can extend a teacher’s reach, offer extra support to students who need it, and give educators better visibility into how each student is progressing.

When done right, personalization can reduce frustration, prevent boredom, and create more meaningful learning — without disrupting the structure that schools depend on.

What exists today?

Over the last two decades, several platforms have tried to turn adaptive learning into something real and scalable — with mixed results.

Tools like Khan Academy, ALEKS, and DreamBox Learning are among the most widely known. They use student performance data to guide what content comes next, adjusting difficulty and pacing.

ALEKS, for example, applies knowledge space theory and adaptive testing to map what a student knows (and doesn’t) in subjects like math and chemistry. Based on that, it builds a learning path tailored to fill those gaps.

DreamBox takes a more playful route, using game-like experiences to teach math at the elementary level, adjusting in real time based on how the student solves each problem — even tracking the strategies used.

In Brazil, platforms like Geekie Lab and Geekie Games made adaptive learning more visible by focusing on high school and ENEM prep. They use algorithms to analyze student performance and adjust the review path accordingly, while providing teachers with dashboards to monitor progress.

Another global example is Knewton, once one of the most hyped adaptive learning companies. It promised large-scale personalization, using complex algorithms to determine what each student should study next. While the vision was bold, Knewton eventually scaled back after criticism about transparency and the limits of its effectiveness in diverse classroom contexts.

These platforms have brought important advances — especially in diagnostics, content recommendation, and automated feedback. Many have improved access to high-quality content and empowered independent learners.

But there are still gaps.

Most of these systems are closed, hard to customize, and offer limited control to teachers. They often don’t integrate easily into local curricula, and few are designed for real classroom constraints — like mixed-ability groups, time-limited schedules, or infrastructure issues common in many public schools.

That’s where I believe there’s still space for innovation: building tools that are flexible, transparent, and designed to work with the realities of teaching, not around them.

References

Brusilovsky, P. (2001). Adaptive hypermedia. User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, 11(1–2), 87–110. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011143116306

Fletcher, J. D., & Kulik, J. A. (2016). Effectiveness of intelligent tutoring systems: A meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 86(1), 42–78. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315581420

Kabudi, T., Pappas, I. O., & Olsen, D. H. (2021). AI-enabled adaptive learning systems: A systematic mapping of the literature. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 2, 100017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2021.100017

Wang, X., Heffernan, N. T., & Rosen, Y. (2024). The efficacy of AI-enabled adaptive learning systems from 2010 to 2022 on learner outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 62(6), 1568–1603. https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331241240459

ALEKS Corporation. (n.d.). Knowledge Space Theory. Retrieved May 7, 2025, from https://www.aleks.com/about_aleks/overview

DreamBox Learning. (n.d.). ESSA evidence study results. Retrieved May 7, 2025, from https://www.dreambox.com/essa

Wired. (2015, August 10). How Geekie is bringing adaptive learning to Brazil. https://www.wired.com/2015/08/geekie-brazil-education/