Career Education Infuses Science into the Art of Teaching with Innovative Adaptive Learning Technolo

Career Education Infuses Science into the Art of Teaching with Innovative Adaptive Learning Technology

Unveils intellipath™; Already Used by Students in More than 11,000 Course Enrollments

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Increased rates of passing grades. Decreased student withdrawals. Improved persistence and retention. Higher levels of engagement. These are just some of the student performance metrics Career Education Corporation (NAS: CECO) is beginning to achieve with a new adaptive learning technology unveiled today. The technology, which was pilot-tested earlier this year and already has been used by students in more than 11,000 course enrollments in 300 sections including English composition, mathematics, accounting and business management, will soon be integrated across the curriculum at our institutions.

Called intellipath, Career Education's adaptive learning technology delivers data-driven personalized learning by harnessing the power of a sophisticated analytical engine and rich faculty-developed content. More than 1,500 students at Colorado Technical University (CTU) and American InterContinental University (AIU) participated in pilot tests of the technology beginning in Fall 2012. The preliminary results were so promising that Career Education has since moved toward a full scale implementation.

"Career Education is revolutionizing online learning. Throughout our pilot studies, the intellipath platform made a meaningful difference in the engagement of our students and faculty," said Scott Steffey, CEO and President of Career Education. "With this new technology, Career Education has effectively combined art and science so instructors in our schools know from minute to minute, which students are succeeding and which need additional instruction. It's an academic and technological breakthrough that advances cognitive science. Adaptive learning, supported by intellipath technology, allows us to visualize how each student learns through their interaction with the material."

intellipath's revolutionary new analytical engine conducts continual, real-time assessments of student knowledge and skills based on sophisticated learning maps designed by faculty to align with the academic courses and programs of Career Education's schools. The technology uses assessment results to determine what content, applications and practice problems will be presented to the student, and in what order. In minutes, the engine determines whether a student needs additional help with foundational skills, more time refining those skills through additional practice problems, or if he or she is ready for a greater challenge. As a result, the system continuously adjusts the student's learning experience to meet his or her specific needs. Additionally, sophisticated analytical dashboards keep faculty members informed of each student's progress and needs so that instructor interactions with students can be optimized.

As part of its revolutionary design, intellipath also provides educators immediate feedback regarding the efficacy of any given lesson plan so the faculty member can adapt their instructional technologies in real time. This distinctive technology does not focus on single academic subject areas, such as math, or single educational needs, such as developmental education, but is instead applicable throughout the entire curriculum.

Already as of June 30, our students have answered more than 6 million assessment questions and have completed over 648,000 lessons, more than 61,000 knowledge assessments tests and over 212,000 practice and revision lessons.

The pilot at AIU involved adaptive learning with intellipath in both English composition and mathematics classes. Students randomly assigned to adaptive learning sections supported by intellipath showed positive results including a 13.6 percent decline in withdrawals, a 4 percent increase in persistence and a 6.8 percent improvement in final course score. Armed with these findings, AIU has expanded the use of adaptive learning technology into history, accounting, business and economics classes, with plans to expand across the curriculum.

CTU's study focused primarily on student and faculty engagement and satisfaction. In a survey including the Winter and Spring 2013 terms, 94 percent of faculty and 87 percent of students involved in adaptive learning with intellipath expressed a belief that the technology-enriched experience contributed toward improved student achievement. CTU has now expanded the use of intellipath into additional mathematics courses, a college readiness course and business management.

"Our adaptive learning technology provides one-on-one tailored instruction for the needs of each student at that moment in time. It is as if every instructor has a class of one," said Timothy Gleason, Adjunct Professor for CTU. "In the past, you taught the same course every quarter and fought fires as they appeared. With our new technology, I can now see class-wide trends that indicate where students are struggling and can offer focused assistance where it's needed."

Over the course of the next year, additional course-level and program-level learning maps will be finalized, and intellipath will be added across the full curriculum at AIU and CTU, including in some graduate-level programs. The technology will connect students from one class to the next as they transition from fundamental concepts to more advanced applications and higher level problem solving. If students need a refresher as they move to more advanced content, intellipath will quickly take them back to the basics and direct them through sequenced curricular nodes to the current application of knowledge.

Additional Career Education schools, including the International Academy of Design and Technology, Le Cordon Bleu, Sanford-Brown and Briarcliffe College will soon be integrating intellipath into their courses as well.

intellipath is based on the powerful adaptive learning platform and engine developed by the Dublin-based research and development company CCKF. "We are excited about the deep pedagogical partnership established between ourselves and Career Education" said David Collery, Founder and CEO of CCKF.

In partnership with CCKF, Career Education's faculty and instructional technology teams have spent more than a year developing detailed learning maps, robust course content and student assessments to ensure that the adaptive learning engine delivers a rich and challenging experience to students. Existing learning maps are being refined and additional learning maps are being developed every day to spread the benefits of intellipath across the curriculum.

About Career Education Corporation

The colleges, schools and universities that are part of the Career Education Corporation family offer high-quality education to a diverse student population across the world in a variety of career-oriented disciplines through online, on-ground and hybrid learning program offerings. The campuses that serve these students are located throughout the United States and in France, the United Kingdom and Monaco, and offer doctoral, master's, bachelor's and associate degrees and diploma and certificate programs.

Career Education is an industry leader whose institutions are recognized globally. Those institutions include, among others, American InterContinental University ("AIU"); Brooks Institute; Colorado Technical University ("CTU"); Harrington College of Design; INSEEC Group ("INSEEC") Schools; International University of Monaco ("IUM"); International Academy of Design & Technology ("IADT"); Le Cordon Bleu North America ("LCB"); and Sanford-Brown Institutes and Colleges. Through its schools, Career Education is committed to providing high-quality education, enabling students to graduate and pursue rewarding career opportunities.

For more information, see Career Education's website at www.careered.com. The website includes a detailed listing of individual campus locations and web links to Career Education's colleges, schools, and universities.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130729005866/en/

Career Education Corporation
Mark Spencer, 847.585.3802
mdspencer@careered.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America Illinois

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Career Education Infuses Science into the Art of Teaching with Innovative Adaptive Learning Technology originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.