An intelligent learning platform (ILP) for schools and universities might be the tool you’ll start using soon if you’re a teacher, academic institution leader, student, or parent. Schools and universities have been leveraging the power of edtech for quite a while now. Especially during the past two years, the interest and necessity of online learning have skyrocketed.
Students have continued pursuing their studies despite prolonged lockdowns through platforms such as learning management systems (LMSs) and video conferencing software. Educators have also adjusted to teaching online, and this trend is here to stay even if most schools have reopened their doors.
Moreover, teachers realized that online classes are more appealing to students because of their content such as goal-oriented videos or quizzes. These classes also open the door to self-paced personalized learning. Additionally, teaching with edtech also allowed educators to save time spent on manual tasks thanks to features such asauto-graded assignments.
Today, edtech companies are actively working on taking digitization even further by converting the traditional LMS into an intelligent learning platform (ILP). Learn more about what an ILP is and how it will reshape how educational institutions deliver content, evaluate and track student progress.
An ILP is a hybrid learning platform that combines two already established systems — learning management systems (LMSs) and learning experience platforms (LXPs). Let’s see what features it takes from each one:
LMSs allow teachers to create classes and share them with students. These systems also provide assessments, feedback and reporting tools, as well as automation and gamification, among many other features. Therefore, they enable teachers to manage classes, deliver content, evaluate students, check their understanding, give feedback and offer a wide range of features for student engagement.
LXPs are slightly different platforms that focus more on learner experience. They work as knowledge hubs that gather many educational materials. They provide additional content based on each student's activity and interests. They work as content recommendation tools that facilitate access to personalized educational resources.
The ILP is the combination of an LMS and an LXP. It brings together their best features, being both teacher and student-oriented.
An ILP has many benefits for students and teachers. To get a better understanding of how it works, here’s an overview of its main advantages for K-12 and Higher Ed institutions:
From personalized learning paths to higher class completion rates, accurate AI-powered insights and less time spent creating class materials, here are the main benefits of an intelligent learning platform for K-12:
Unlike traditional LMSs that mainly deliver standardized content, ILPs focus on providing the most suitable learning content for each student. Students can get automatic learning recommendations based on their level of competency and goals. Hence, more advanced students can access more complex learning resources and assessments to keep them motivated.
If the platform detects that students have spent too much time on a class or repeatedly failed a quiz, it will recommend additional resources that will help them improve in the area where they are struggling.
Therefore, with the help of various educational resources that include both internal and external content (third-party resources, videos, classes, articles), ILPs ensure higher class completion rates and boost student motivation and engagement.
Read more: 8 Strategies for increasing student self-efficacy in online education
On a similar note, offering each student the tailored content they need to complete classes and pass exams can reduce dropout rates. Moreover, an ILP for schools and universities can also help teachers spot problems in due time and intervene in the early stages when students show the first signs of falling behind in class. This is possible thanks to the platform’s analytics tools. ILPs automatically track each student’s progress and detect problematic behavior such as users who haven’t logged into their accounts for a while, failed to complete their classes, or haven’t submitted their assignments in due time.Therefore, teachers can quickly notice problems or even receive automated notifications once they arise to take measures and prevent them from escalating.
Students can access a wealth of educational resources. The good part is that these come from different sources. Besides the classes created by their teachers, students will also be able to access content from third-party providers.
For teachers, this means less time spent creating or uploading new classes. Consequently, they gain more time for essential activities such as improving their teaching methods or interacting with students.
ILPs take the analytics and reporting capabilities of LMSs one step further. Gaining valuable user information is just one of the advantages of using AI. Thanks to their powerful AI features, these platforms can collect in-depth data related to student performance as well as class engagement.
School administrators can also use these insights, which will come in straightforward reports or graphs, to improve strategic planning, evaluation, or feedback analysis. For example, they can use gamification in their classroom to boost engagement.
Read more: 5 Must-have LMS reports for schools
ILPs unlock learning anchored in real-world careers by allowing students to focus on their learning goals. Moreover, ILPs promote student collaboration and engagement and allow teachers to access real-time analytics. Here are the main ILP benefits for Higher Ed.
With an ILP, students can choose learning goals such as “I want to become an entrepreneur” or “I want to become a Graphic Designer” and get recommendations based on them. This is a game-changer feature for college students who aspire to work in a certain field after graduation and can access many resources or even mentoring opportunities through the platform.
For example, the university can add alumni accounts for former students who specialize in different fields. Then, students can get recommendations to contact alumni directly and ask them for help in reaching their learning goals.
Students already use YouTube, course marketplaces and other platforms to learn all sorts of things through engaging video content. With an ILP, universities will be able to leverage this sort of content as well as regular classes hosted by the university.
This is due to the integrations an intelligent learning platform for schools and universities has with third-party content providers such as Go1 or LinkedIn Learning. Students get access to classes based on their interests and goals. For example, an Art student who’s interested in product design can get different class recommendations on Udemy in addition to their regular university classes.
More so, the ILP will allow students to browse through educational resources the same way they do when looking for a movie on Netflix — based on their interests and competencies. The result is a more personalized and effective learning experience.
The main reason why many Higher Ed institutions will most likely turn to an intelligent learning platform for schools and universities is that these tools increase student engagement. They achieve this by providing them with content that matches their needs and expectations. Yet, this is not all.
ILPs also monitor and help share learner feedback in real-time. This creates a more interactive, fun, and effective learning experience. For example, students can rate each learning recommendation and this will help other students come across relevant content.
Moreover, it will enable teachers to improve class materials according to student feedback. An ILP also emphasizes social learning through features such as groups, chats, or forums where students from the same faculty or with similar goals and interests can help each other succeed.
In addition to LXP and LMS features, an ILP boasts other features both schools and universities can tap into to improve their classes and help students achieve mastery. Most importantly, they contribute to an enhanced skill development system that features:
First, students or teachers can choose the learning goals. Based on them and each student’s platform activity, the system automatically generates content recommendations by providing in-house or third-party educational resources. Learning goals and recommendations are also associated with the competencies students must achieve.
Here are some examples for K-12:
And here are ideas for a Higher Ed institution:
Competencies are correlated with the most suitable teacher-created and third-party content recommendations. Students can choose the content they find most appealing from the suggestions they get. As more and more students use the platform, they’ll be able to see which recommendations are highly rated by their peers.
The purpose of learning goals and recommended content is to enable competency-based learning, making students more independent and flexible. Additionally, teachers can set goals and get recommendations for their own career objectives, such as mastering new teaching techniques, if the institution offers professional development programs.
Teachers already have a lot on their hands, so an ILP aims to make their work easier. Automation is a central part of ILPs as it allows teachers to set up rules that are triggered when students complete goals, such as awarding badges and certificates or sending custom notifications.
In this way, students get automatic recommendations, but they can also get a custom notification written by the teacher whenever they enroll in a class or a certificate whenever they complete it.
Gamification is a feature that is powered by automation and makes learning more enjoyable, as students get rewarded with points and badges for their work and level up in the class game. However, with an ILP, they also get rewarded within gamified Q&A forums, in which they ask and answer questions related to their learning goals and help fellow students succeed.
ILPs have inherited collaboration tools from LMSs, such as groups, chats, and forums. In an ILP, these tools were enhanced to provide a more social and engaging learning experience for students and teachers alike. The goal is to enable an online learning community experience centered around learning goals and interests.
Students can automatically access certain groups and communities based on the goals and competencies they or their teachers have added. This enables social learning, which has many advantages beyond the thrill of being part of a community. In these groups and communities, students can:
Furthermore, thanks to the enhanced news feeds, students will find it easier to share educational resources, rate them or provide their feedback. So, everyone will see how useful a certain class or another type of resource is and immediately figure out if it’s suitable for their needs.
ILPs like the one that’s currently developed by CYPHER Learning are leading the way for LMS innovation. Both K-12 and Higher Ed students can benefit from goal setting, recommendations, resources, collaborative tools, personalized learning and competency-based learning features. There are also many benefits for teachers, such as less time spent creating or looking for materials, easy goal tracking, and student progress monitoring. Leaders and administrators can easily manage all teaching and learning activities through a single platform.
These features and more will soon be available in our platform used by institutions worldwide.
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