SBIR Phase I: A Method to Expand Personalized Experiential Learning

The broader impact of this SBIR Phase I project is to improve education and experiential learning.The proposed tool will support both synchronous and asynchronous learning while providing students with the opportunity to engage independently and connect their learning to internships, job shadows, service projects, and other real-world learning experiences. This project will enhance teacher capacity to guide and assess student learning, increase transparency and objectivity in assessment, and expand the learning ecosystem of schools by empowering students to engage in and validate authentic, real-world learning experience.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a novel competency-based evaluation tool and learner recommendation engine designed to: assess a range of currently needed skills and competencies, aggregate assessment data for the purpose of generating a comprehensive learner record in real time, and generate personalized competency pathways and recommendations for learning and growth. The key intellectual merits of this proposal are the formulas used to aggregate assessment data over time and the algorithms used to generate personalized competency pathways and learner recommendations. The technical challenges are the development and testing of the associated algorithms to guide and evaluate learning in both academic and authentic, real-world contexts. Research conducted during this Phase I project enable testing and refining of the data aggregation formulas utilized by the assessment tool, as well as optimization of the learner recommendation algorithms used for the creation of personalized competency pathways.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.