During the last decade, many governments and ed-tech companies have demonstrated an increased interest in digital personalised learning, which resulted in a variety of often game-like adaptive learning environments. However, there has been limited attention for the impact of these personalised learning technologies on children's learning efficiency. Does digital personalised learning, like popular claims insist, foster learning in young children? This study attempts to empirically validate the beneficial impact of adaptive learning technology by analysing log-data from the Number Sense Game (NSG), an educational game that trains early numerical skills. In total, 81 children were randomly assigned to use either an adaptive or a non-adaptive version of the NSG in six sessions in a three-week period. Using a longitudinal item response model children's progress within and across sessions was modelled and compared between the two versions of the game. Regardless of the version of the NSG, children demonstrated progress within and across sessions. However, compared to the non-adaptive NSG, the progress across sessions was stronger in the adaptive NSG. These results provide empirical evidence that adaptive learning environments can improve learning efficiency in young children.

中文翻译：

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适应性在数字学习技术中的作用。使用来自教育游戏的数据对学习效率进行建模

在过去十年中，许多政府和教育技术公司对数字个性化学习表现出越来越大的兴趣，这导致了各种通常类似于游戏的自适应学习环境。然而，人们对这些个性化学习技术对儿童学习效率的影响的关注有限。数字个性化学习是否像流行的说法一样，促进幼儿的学习？本研究试图通过分析数字感游戏 (NSG) 的日志数据，从经验上验证自适应学习技术的有益影响，这是一种训练早期数字技能的教育游戏。总共有 81 名儿童被随机分配在三周内的六次会议中使用自适应或非自适应版本的 NSG。使用纵向项目反应模型对儿童在会话内和会话间的进步进行建模，并在两个版本的游戏之间进行比较。无论 NSG 的版本如何，孩子们在课程内和课程之间都表现出了进步。然而，与非自适应 NSG 相比，自适应 NSG 中跨会话的进展更强。这些结果提供了经验证据，表明适应性学习环境可以提高幼儿的学习效率。