Missing Pieces: Infrastructure Requirements for Adaptive Instructional Systems

Abstract

As the market embraces adaptive instructional systems (AISs) and related data-intensive learning technologies, effective and economical deployment of products from multiple vendors will require critical infrastructure components. Four important types of data must be managed and securely shared across applications: the learner’s background and objectives; a profile of the learner’s current state of mastery; live data recording the learner’s current activities; and metadata describing the available learning activities. Additionally, software tools to manage multi-product learning environments will be needed. This paper explains the importance of these infrastructure components, reviews their state of readiness, and anticipates the benefits they will offer to various stakeholders.