Adaptive Learning

Adaptive Learning Partnership To Focus on Improved Language Instruction

• By Michael Hart
• 02/19/15

McGraw-Hill Education and Cerego will partner on a new series of language learning tools based on adaptive technologies, beginning with a new version of an existing Spanish language program.

Acknowledging that "multilingualism is an advantage in our globalized world," McGraw-Hill Education Senior Vice President Sean Ryan announced the partnership between his company, which already has learning programs in 60 languages, and Cerego, which focuses on memory management tools that are intended to help students retain what they have learned.

Both companies are adept in adaptive learning technologies in which students study by guiding themselves through personalized experiences — often combining digital tools and in-class lessons — that continually respond to their needs and focus attention on what they know at the moment they learn it.

The first initiative of the partnership will be an update of McGraw-Hill's "Asi se dice" program for Spanish instruction, which should be available for classroom use this fall.

"Asi se dice" includes vocabulary and grammar lessons, instruction on Spanish language culture and literature, photo essays and achievement tests to track student results and progress.

McGraw-Hill will incorporate Cerego's adaptive technologies into language instruction for two of its primary adaptive products, LearnSmart and ALEKS.

"Language learning is a discipline that we feel very passionately about," said Cerego Executive Chairman and Co-founder Andrew Smith Lewis. "Starting with Spanish, we're eager to integrate our adaptive learning technology within McGraw-Hill Education's world language programs."

Ryan said, "We will help students learn faster, retain capabilities longer and perhaps contribute more to their long-term success."