The number of courseware options available to higher education increases each year. While more options can be a good thing, it makes it difficult for instructors to find the best courseware for their needs.
Assessing courseware can be a lengthy endeavor. Most instructors begin their search by identifying courseware options available for courses they teach. Then they confirm which options work with their school’s learning management system. Only then are they able to evaluate the quality of the courseware’s content and user experience. Ideally, instructors will also want to factor in the courseware’s cost to the student.
This search and assessment method still leaves many considerations unaddressed. That’s potentially problematic. Courseware plays a critical role in attracting, retaining, and supporting students.
Fortunately, there is a new way to find and compare courseware options.

Adaptive courseware is used successfully across diverse higher education settings. Enterprises including philanthropic organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have supported studies evaluating the equity and learning outcomes benefits of adaptive courseware and The Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities has gone as far as developing an Accelerating Adoption of Adaptive Courseware initiative. Adaptive courseware, while nearly two decades in maturity, continues to be a hot topic of discussion at industry conferences year after year.
Despite the growth in usage, availability, outcomes, impact on equity and capabilities of adaptive courseware, some instructors continue to have reservations regarding a concern adaptive courseware is like “teaching on auto-pilot.”
The reality of teaching with some adaptive courseware could not be more different.