Several courses at Stepik use an adaptive learning engine which chooses content for each learner individually – by their level and knowledge gaps. The adaptive engine calculates the average difficulty rating based on how many times the learner considered the lesson to be too hard or too easy and how quickly and how many attempts on average did it take for a learner to complete the assignment.
Examples of the courses: Adaptive Python, Adaptive Java, TOEFL.
The difference between a regular and an adaptive course:
- there is no set structure in an adaptive course;
- a learner can not follow a linear pre-set structure of the course, the adaptive engine generates a unique path for each learner;
- learners get no points upon completing an assignment in an adaptive course. They have skills level and the confidence.
If the course is adaptive, learners have extra buttons on the top of the page like this:
The first button becomes active only after learners successfully solve the problem. If the problem seems too difficult or too easy, they can click on one of the buttons on the right, the engine will take into account the knowledge level for future content recommendations.
P.S. Initially, the adaptive system may behave somewhat randomly for learners, but the more problems they solve, the smarter it becomes!
Since 2018, Stepik doesn't develop the adaptive course system.