Adaptive Learning Technology Leader ALEKS Corporation Acquired by McGraw-Hill Education

McGraw-Hill Education announced tis month that it has acquired adaptive learning technology leader ALEKS Corporation.

McGraw-Hill Education has used the Irving, Calif.-based company’s higher education mathematics program for the past 10 years and now seeks to further infuse their products with ALEKS’s innovative approach to learning.

Adaptive learning is rapidly becoming a popular concept among both K–12 and higher education leaders.

This acquisition is just the latest in a series of strategic acquisitions designed to bolster McGraw-Hill’s position in the area of adaptive technology. Earlier this year, McGraw-Hill acquired a large stake in Area9 Apps, a company with which they partnered in the past to create SmartBook, the first-ever adaptive eBook.

Competitor Houghton Mifflin Harcourt also recently announced a new partnership with Knewton to offer personalized mathematics instruction in both blended and online courses.

Adaptive technologies are an emerging area in education that promises individualized instruction to help students learn faster and better. Dr. Nishikant Sonwalkar of the MIT Enterprise Forum provides an overview and analysis of adaptive learning in a paper published by Educause entitled “Adaptive Learning Technologies: From One-Size-Fits-All to Individualization.” Adaptive technology provides students, teachers and families with real-time data on student performance as well as an individualized approach to learning.

In the adaptive model, students begin learning a topic by engaging with a computerized model. After a diagnostic test on the topic, the system analyzes the results and identifies the learner’s strengths and weaknesses. It also determines the best learning model for the student. A remedial course of action is then created by the system based on the data and the student’s anticipated learning preferences.

McGraw-Hill says that it has no plans to change ALEKS’s current operations, including maintaining their headquarters in Irving. For the time being, the company will continue to offer ALEKS as a stand-alone product. Further integration of ALEKS technology into existing McGraw-Hill products, however, is almost certain.

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