In the March issue of the Harvard Business Review, Stacey Childress contributes an article titled 'Rethinking School' that discusses the failure of US education to keep up with the progress of other countries over the past 40 years. However, despite the United State's dip in form, the author optimistically touts advances in adaptive learning technologies that have generated improvements in educational achievement for elementary school students in New York. Ms. Childress describes the School of One's strategy of adaptive learning as tailoring educational content to the exact needs of each student using a combination of software of personal attention. The preliminary results are very positive, with students in adaptive learning environments performing better than 98% of their traditionally taught peers. The logic is simple: technology-based and personalized lesson plans free teachers "from the demands of large-group instruction, a single teacher can tailor his or her efforts to the individual needs of dozens of students." Although the idea of using software might suggest that the value of a teacher becomes smaller, the pilot programs find just the opposite. By using software to cover more rote topics (such as arithmetic), teachers are then free to work with students on more advanced and dynamic skills such as critical thinking and problem solving.
So what does this have to do with online presentation software? A lot.
The SlideStacks strategy for creating more effective communication between a presenter in the audience is very similar to the adaptive learning techniques being used in these New York schools. With SlideStacks, we make it easy for presenters to customize each presentation to the exact needs of the audience -sort of like a personalized curriculum for an individual student. The personalization of content creates deeper audience understanding and connection to the materials, therefore fostering a more memorable and impactful presentation experience. This strategy is in contrast to a common approach to presentations in which presenters deliver their message the same way to everyone, regardless of who is in the audience.
In short, adaptive learning has the potential to change the way our children learn in school. Adaptive communication has the potential to change the way we communicate in business.
Marc Siegel
Founder/CEO of SlideStacks
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