Benefits/Challenges/Tips for using adaptive learning with students who are gifted/talented

Video Transcription

Hi. My name is Ashley, and today's lesson is titled "Benefits, Challenges, and Tips for Using Adaptive Learning with Gifted and Talented." In today's lesson, we will look at the characteristics of gifted and talented students, and what challenges they face. We'll also look at how adaptive learning can help gifted and talented students.

There are six areas in which students may show extraordinary skill in order to be considered gifted or talented. Students may go above and beyond and creative thinking, general intellectual ability, specific intellectual ability, leadership, psychomotor, and visual and performing arts. According to the National Society for the Gifted and Talented, gifted students are described as having perfectionist tendencies, high sensitivity to their own expectations and those of others. Some are sequential learners, and some are spatial learners. Academically, many are far ahead of their peers. And they are abstract thinkers and problem-solvers.

Challenges that are most often faced by gifted learners are frustration and boredom. Most often, gifted learners are way ahead of the majority of their classmates, meaning they finish the work much faster, and then they're left with no other task, which can lead to boredom. And I'm sure you have also seen where you have your gifted students who become frustrated with their other classmates not being able to understand a concept and having to wait for the whole class to get to a certain point before you can move on to another concept. Chronic underachievement is the result of frustration and boredom, when a student decides to check out because they're not being engaged or challenged at their own level.

In some cases, gifted learners have difficulty socializing, though this is not the case for all. But some may find it difficult creating relationships with their peers. And they usually have challenges with self-concept. With that being said, the teachers should not rely so much on technology, because sometimes it can make the gap even wider and limit needed collaboration with peers.

Adaptive learning can be beneficial to gifted and talented students in many ways. With adaptive learning systems, they are able to move at their own pace and accelerate at their own level, meaning they no longer have to wait for the entire class to understand a skill or concept. Once they have full understanding, they can move on with the adaptive learning system.

You may find some of your gifted students have high abilities in one area, but not so much in another area. With adaptive learning, the system can easily be adapted to individualize learning for the student. And because students are able to work at their own pace, they can go ahead and be introduced to newer complex concepts when they get ready to prepare for future objectives.

In today's lesson, we learned that gifted and talented students normally strive for perfection, and are quite far ahead of other students who are the same age. Gifted learners usually become frustrated and bored, which may result in chronic underachievement, and they sometimes have difficulty creating social relationships. However, adaptive learning can support the needs of gifted and talented students by allowing them to work at their own pace, and accelerate when they have mastered concepts. The learning system will adapt to their needs and allow them to move on and introduce future concepts.

As we bring the lesson to a close, consider how adaptive learning differentiates instruction for gifted learners. For more information on how to apply what you learned in this video, please view the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The additional resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource.