OLIVEROS, JOHN BRIAN R.

BSHM 4H
1. Compare and elaborate computer virus in our current virus this time of pandemic.

The pandemic could open a door to new technology and dramatic innovation in education.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of students are studying at home. Could
adaptive learning technologies help?
Yes, for a few subjects. The emergency shift away from traditional classrooms has resulted in
fewer instructor-student interaction hours. This is happening in grades K-12 and higher
education. A lack of contact hours could be partially compensated for with adaptive
technology, where in those moments when students are unable to have synchronous learning
sessions (with teachers, in real time), they can interact with a technology that has the capacity
to personalize instruction — a limited capacity, but more than a video or textbook.

Some educators have raised worry that, during the pandemic, children who should be
studying at home are instead disconnected and stranded. Could adaptive learning technologies
assist if they were widely available right now?
There's a problem with both access and orientation here. With access, we'll start to see data
SIM (subscriber information module) cards and devices treated like school buses — delivery
vehicles for pupils to get them to the now-virtual classroom.

Even when students have access, there is evidence that the manner they approach online
learning might result in an accomplishment gap. A colleague at Arizona State University was
curious about how students explored resources in his online course, and if students who failed
the course navigated differently than those who passed. It appears to me that you are
discussing more than just new technology, but a fundamentally different style of teaching and
learning.
We haven't changed all that much as biological, cognitive beings. But technology is
transforming every aspect of our lives, and I believe this is also happening in education,
where teachers are collaborating with technology. There's also a whiff of the familiar here, as
one-on-one tutoring has inspired numerous adaptive learning methods. He has collaborated
closely with instructors and students at all levels to integrate technology into daily courses.
He described how these new support systems engage students and assess their strengths and
weaknesses even when they are not in the classroom in an interview. The systems are not
online courses, but rather an online tutor powered by artificial intelligence, capable of
assessing a student's strengths and shortcomings and providing individualized individual
training.

Such technologies are already in use in college studies, including at Berkeley, and to a lesser
extent in high school classes in the United States. Today, however, instructors are forced to
investigate the most effective ways to teach children at home — which means COVID-19
may open the door to new ideas and new technology that will persist in the classroom long
after the calamity has passed.