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and Junker (2007) found that students using the tutor could reach the same level of
performance in 12 percent less time than their peers who did not use it. 12
This type of online learning might improve productivity by using instructional resources
such as books and computer-based materials as well as teachers and peers more effectively.
Productivity gains can results from focusing on specific student needs in order to improve
learning or from using student time more effectively, as students are not constrained by the
collective pace of the class. In addition, flexible scheduling and other forms of
individualization might help retain students who are otherwise at risk of dropping out of
school (Repetto et al. 2010), offering the wide range of individual and social gains that have
been well documented as outcomes of high school completion (Levin and Belfield 2009).
4. Personalizing Learning
Personalized learning draws on individual students’ specific interests. Using the definition
provided in the National Education Technology Plan (U.S. Department of Education 2010a),
personalized learning not only encompasses the individualization and differentiation
described above, but also allows students to draw on their personal interests to direct
learning objectives and content. Personalized learning can tap students’ innate curiosity and
help them deepen their learning.
Example: The Ohio State University (OSU) introductory statistics course, enrolling over
2,500 students, was redesigned based on what is called the “buffet model” (Twigg
2003a). As the name suggests, students are offered options for types of lectures and labs
they receive (e.g., large group lecture, small group problem-solving, online individual
work) based on their learning styles as measured by an online pre-course questionnaire
(Acker et al. 2003). In fall 2002, the course was delivered with three customized tracks
and demonstrated that learning gains could be achieved while reducing costs (National
Center for Academic Transformation 2003a; Twigg 2004b). Students in the redesigned
course had greater success on common exams than daytime students in the traditional
course and about the same scores as students in the evening class, which had smaller
class sizes and older students and had previously outperformed the daytime class.
Additionally, failures were reduced from 7 percent to 3 percent, withdrawals from 11
percent to 8 percent and incompletes from 2 percent to 1 percent, resulting in 248 more
12 Cognitive Tutor now offers a Web-based delivery option, especially for higher education institutions, going beyond
stand-alone software delivery model (http://www.carnegielearning.com/higher-ed-curricula/implementations). The majority
of research on the product thus far, including those studies cited here, has been on the stand-alone software rather than the
Web version.
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