In today’s world, learning occurs in multiple contexts. It can range from the school and college level to learning in professional courses and as part of corporate training. Despite the diversity of these learning contexts, some universal truths are emerging.
For instance, all learners have diverse needs and different proficiencies in terms of skills, knowledge, habits, and discipline levels. Learners also have diverse learning challenges. This is why a one-size-fits-all learning path may not serve learner needs effectively.
The lack of learning effectiveness in existing models for diverse groups of learners has paved the way for customizable learning paths. This is a learning strategy and innovation where a learner engages in a personalized learning experience that is completely tailored to their needs, goals, and learning preferences.
The fast-growing personalized learning market size, valued at $1.9 Billion in 2020, is expected to reach a value of $8.09 Billion by 2027. Educational publishers, for instance, can leverage the benefits of cloud-based digital textbook platforms like KITABOO to build highly personalized learning pathways at scale for their learner audience.
Let’s understand how customizable learning paths work, what are their pillars and benefits, and how education publishers can implement them.
Table Of Contents
I. What are Customizable Learning Paths?
II. Top Pillars of Customizable Learning Paths
- The Shift to Online Learning
- Leverage the Right Technology
- Build Mobile-First Optimised Content
- Shift Towards Self-Learning
- Harness the Power of Interactive eBooks
- AI-Driven Adaptive Learning and Assessments
III. Benefits of Customizable Learning Paths
- Deliver Personalized Learning Experiences
- Customized Assessment and In-Depth Feedback
- Data-Driven Learning Decisions
IV. Conclusion
What are Customizable Learning Paths?
Customizable learning paths are a strategy where a learner engages in a mix of courses. These courses are specifically tailored to enhance learning effectiveness based on the learner’s personal needs, learning styles, and goals.
All aspects of the learning experience can be personalized – from learning formats and assessments to interactive elements and the pace of learning.
In a nutshell, the flexibility and scope to innovate the learning experience, end-to-end, is an extremely valuable aspect of customizable learning paths for learners and educational publishers.
Top Pillars of Customizable Learning Paths
Here is a snapshot of how educational publishing can go about building customizable learning paths.
The Shift to Online Learning
Customizable learning paths are possible with online learning. Learners need to shift from the usage of physical textbooks and onsite instructor-led sessions to interactive eBooks and eLearning courses accessible online.
eLearning opens a window of opportunities. Hence, this mindset shift is an important aspect of the journey.
Leverage the Right Technology
Customized learning at scale is possible with access to the right tech-enabled solutions. Hence, educational publishers must leverage the right technology to build programs.
For instance, access to a single, unified, cloud-based digital textbook publishing platform such as KITABOO allows automation of the entire publishing process.
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) further enables the automatic personalization of courses, as well as assessments, to build a holistic experience.
Build Mobile-First Optimised Content
The impact of customized learning paths is amplified when the programs are accessible on one’s mobile phone. The intimacy of such a program aligns with the comfort learners experience with their mobile phones.
Learners can learn at will, when convenient, and their user journey adapts to these behavior patterns. They can indulge in micro-learning, where they consume byte-sized content pieces, thus reducing the stress of learning too much or too little at any given point.
Shift Towards Self-Learning
Another key pillar of customizable learning paths is that learners must have the autonomy to learn on their own, with ease. This is made possible with access to high-quality resources that are highly valuable for learners.
Learning resources comprise a mix of videos, audio representations, interactive eBooks, infographics, animations, and interactive quizzes. The learning interface automatically recommends relevant learning resources to users at all stages of the learning journey.
Harness the Power of Interactive eBooks
Unlike physical textbooks, interactive eBooks are engaging and optimized to serve the needs of a wide range of learners. The accessibility features of eBooks, for instance, make them a valuable tool in customizable learning paths.
Not every learner needs to “read” books. They can also listen to audio representations and watch videos, which simplify and reimagine learning concepts. eBooks also allow learners and educators to collaborate through features such as highlights and comments.
AI-Driven Adaptive Learning and Assessments
The use of AI allows learning journeys to be customized in real time. For instance, interactive lessons can be designed based on how the learner performs in each module. The learner is nudged towards tougher challenges.
But if the difficulty level is too high, the lesson automatically adjusts to an easier level. Thus, learners can learn at a pace that is not overwhelming but motivating. Assessments can also follow a similar pattern.
Thus, AI does the work of evaluating students and customizing lessons accordingly.
Benefits of Customizable Learning Paths
This learning strategy comes with several advantages to learners, educators, and educational publishers:
Deliver Personalized Learning Experiences
Learners benefit through deeper investment in their specific needs. Investments in AI enable quick and efficient identification of a learner’s challenges and the specific resources and support they need to master their subject.
Learners can also learn as per their schedules and at a pace that is not overwhelming. Through the use of gamification and simulated live experiences, learning also becomes more engaging.
Customized Assessment and In-Depth Feedback
Assessments are designed to thoroughly test students on all aspects of their subject and skill levels. They can also take multiple tests for real-time continuous evaluation.
The feedback received is instant and detailed, thus enabling them to get a 360 picture of their progress. They can also get recommendations for resources and strategies that they can benefit from.
Data-Driven Learning Decisions
Educators have access to massive amounts of learner data acquired through the usage of smart tools that enable them to generate and distribute customized learning paths.
For instance, platforms like KITABOO give publishers access to AI-driven predictive analysis. This allows publishers to forecast learning trends while understanding individual learner progress with more depth.
Educators can also identify challenging areas and build more content that is relevant and effective for learners.
Conclusion
Customizable learning paths are increasingly becoming the future of learning. Today, several apps and platforms carve personalized courses for learners.
As more learners come online, this strategy will increasingly become the go-to path for learning, spilling over to schools, colleges, and corporate contexts. Hence, educational publishers are advised to make early investments and stay ahead of the curve.
Want to know how you can do so? Education publishers can leverage state-of-the-art cloud-based digital textbook platforms like KITABOO to create, publish, distribute, and market interactive eBooks to their audiences worldwide.
To know more, write to us at KITABOO@hurix.com.
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Kitaboo is a cloud-based content platform to create-publish & securely distribute interactive mobile-ready ebooks.
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