Breaking Education to Fix It - A Technical View

Shatter how we educate and use the pieces to assemble a new education model. That’s what Volute is doing. But we’ve said this already a few times in a few different ways. What we haven’t delved into is why. Why is it valuable to break down education into pieces and build the first-of-its-kind learning marketplace? Is it the fact that we can use these pieces - implemented as new web app technology we call Volute Tools - to create custom programs on-the-fly? Yes. Is it because the technology adapts to any desktop, tablet and smartphone? Yes. However, these benefits are not such profound concepts. The deeper opportunity is personalized learning. By creating granular education components, a large number of learning permutations is possible. Volute can adapt unique responses based on a learner’s needs; in real-time.

Imagine you are taking an online course to improve your time management skills. With Volute, this means you are interacting with a digital learning environment assembled from a marketplace of education components - the Volute Tools. As you are presented with surveys and assessments and other Volute Tools as part of your time management course, your responses are triggering different scenarios, displaying varying Volute Tools to be presented throughout the course. For example, if you enter 3 wrong answers for a particular set of questions, Volute can determine the next set of Volute Tools to present to you that are focused on what you answered incorrectly. It can present a video tutorial that is geared towards addressing those specific gaps. It can present another set of questions that are focused on your weaknesses while offering insights into your strengths. It can provide feedback reports and references for further study. All in real-time and based on your individual learning needs.

Volute accomplishes this through the breakdown of education components using a concept we call “composable education”. Composability is the ability to compose relationships between components – education components in this context. The composability of the education components - the Volute Tools - is key. Too granular and the course flow can disengage the learner, while also creating performance issues with the software. Too coarse and the level of personalization is diminished defeating the core objective. A balance must be achieved to provide an optimal learning experience. Volute manages this in two ways; first, there is a built-in rules engine that maps your course rules to Volute Tools. For each Volute Tool, you can determine what action to take based on specific criteria, such as answering certain questions incorrectly. These rules help determine relationships between Volute Tools and begin to scope the information architecture. Second, we work with your SME’s to develop the scope of your Volute Tools in combination with our specification API. Each Volute Tool has a specification that defines the characteristics of that Volute Tool – one of which is the level of composability. Understanding the relationships between different pieces of information helps determine the level of composability for each Volute Tool. For example, a particular Volute Tool can be part of a package of Volute Tools. It can have an associate or composite relationship with other Tools in the package. An associate relationship means there is an association, but the Volute Tool can function independently from the package. A composite relationship means the Volute Tool cannot function without the package and serves no real purpose as a stand-alone piece.

The ability to assemble personalized courses and programs is in the realm of adaptive learning and follows the shift for self-directed, learner centric education models. Volute supports the notion that people learn differently. Coupled with the idea to package education components in a plug-n-play education marketplace is why Volute is revolutionizing education.

Michael D. Croft (@Michael_D_Croft) is Chairman & CEO at Volute Holdings Corporation, parent company to Volute. Michael has over 17 years of professional experience architecting enterprise software used by world-renowned companies. In 2012, he earned the 40 Under Forty award citing 40 professionals under the age of 40 making an impact on a local or national scale. Michael has been featured in various publications and speaking engagements, sharing his expertise on software development and methodologies.