Personalized Learning Path (PLP) – "App" for improving academic performance and prevention of dropouts in India

Abstract: Personalized Learning is an evolving trend in many schools in the United States and globally. However, an earlier study showed that personalized tutoring positively affected students' achievement. A tutor can quickly and competently evaluate students' capacities and needs and suggest appropriate instruction, resulting in students' academic performance. Studies have found that digital tools in education are efficient, such as digital tutors, digital assessments, and student-centric curricula can support student achievement similar to what is done by skilled human tutors. A PLP App developed with AI, specifically to address issues relevant to India, is presented in this paper that provides precise help to students from across the spectrum who need additional support in understanding any subject and concepts and wish to improve academic performance. This PLP App helps teachers identify gaps in knowledge and understanding of subjects among students and support them with technology-enabled tools to bridge the gap. This is done using Coherence maps between different levels of learning in concepts in specific subjects, which address gaps in learning that cannot be easily addressed in any other manner by both students and teachers. It doesn't just tailor learning, keeping the differences among learners in mind; it also shifts the weight of students' progress from the teacher and divides it between the students and teachers. The PLP App considers the conditions of Learning, such as the motivation of the student, the associated feelings of autonomy, ability, and relevance of the Learning. Setting goals and receiving feedback are essential parts of the learning process. The learning path created by the Coherence maps is a concrete, visualized, and easily understandable list of goals designed to guide students from their current level of knowledge to a higher level of competence. Self-assessment and peer review, coupled with the learning path, help students better understand their skills and increase their sense of autonomy and ownership in Learning. Students should have personal learning paths to encourage them to set and manage their academic goals. The data relating to each student is captured on an ongoing basis by the PLP App to ensure all student performance data is recorded in the system to provide most accurate understanding of the level of knowledge. The PLP software also supports teachers' plans and students' preferences by keeping past track records. Observation and monitoring of benchmarks allow the teacher to assign additional content to the student for better performance. The drop-out of students from schools in India has many reasons. They include understanding the subject or content, personal reasons, economic reasons, and many other reasons. However, it has been established by earlier studies that a significant part of the reason for drop-outs is a failure in specific courses, such as Mathematics and English. The PLP App at least addresses the understanding of the subject content, which should at least reduce the drop-outs due to failure in specific courses.

Keywords: PLP, dropouts, academic performance

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002935

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