The Dutch vocational education system (MBO) faces mounting pressure to adapt to the diverse needs of its students. One-size-fits-all instruction leaves some students behind, and prevents others from achieving their full potential. Enter MBOin2030, a national innovation programme with a clear vision: flexible, future-proof education.
One of its flagship initiatives is the “Personalised Learning” challenge, focused on aligning learning environments with individual student needs. MemoryLab was selected as part of this initiative: Tasked with introducing self-regulated, personalised, and sustainable methods to arithmetic learning in MBO classrooms.
Investing in the Educational Innovation Cycle
Government-backed pilots like MBO2030 are projects that direct future investment in the educational innovation cycle:
- Rigorous research is funded, leading to the development of promising tools
- Those tools are then tested in real classrooms, generating feedback
- That feedback feeds new research, which sharpens the tools
- This forms a continuous loop, spiralling upwards towards ideal practices
The MBOin2030 project is a clear case study of this process. Government funding, scientific research and development, and classroom implementation, all working together.
Personalised Learning and the Role of MemoryLab
“Personalised learning” marks a shift from one-size-fits-all learning, to methods that can address the unique capabilities of each learner. At MemoryLab, we hope this shift becomes systemic change, led by scientific discovery. In this project, our adaptive learning technology was used to answer the following question:
“Can adaptive learning technology promote self-regulated, personalised and sustainable arithmetic learning?”
As a science-led company, our role is twofold:
- Innovate responsibly, using scientific evidence to guide every feature.
- Deliver a useful tool, bringing real impact to students and teachers.
At the MBO institutes Noorderpoort and Alfa College, 140 students across 6 classes used MemoryLab to practice their foundational arithmetic. They were tested before and after the pilot, and could use MemoryLab in a self-regulated fashion for about a month, as a practice exercise during school hours
Our Research Findings
Read the full report for a thorough analysis of the project. Below, I cover the main highlights:
Across the two MBO schools, Alfa College and Noorderpoort, there were mixed results. Alfa College did raise their scores, but there were no statistically significant gains (Figure 1).
A reality of real-world testing is that many major factors cannot be controlled. In the case of Noorderpoort, the baseline test was taken during exam week, and the post-test was taken directly after a holiday. This is reflected in their high baseline, and lower posttest results – Though there was indication of targeted impact, particularly in topics like fractions.
In contrast to the mixed test results, the endorsement of MemoryLab was high and consistent. In the Dutch education system, it is common to receive grades from 1 – 10, with scores above 5.5 being a positive result, and 10 being a rare perfect score. After they had received their grades, we asked students to assign MemoryLab a grade. 83% of students rated the tool positively (Figure 2), and 72% said they’d use it for other maths topics. Every teacher endorsed its continued use in the curriculum.
Figure 3 takes a closer look at the data. For each topic, students could receive a score of 1 to 4. For the students with low baseline scores (In Figure 3, Baseline Score: 0 and 1), those who used MemoryLab were more likely to improve than those who did not: The adaptive learning tool was most effective for those students who needed it most, and used it in the topics they struggled most with.
However, when left entirely to their own devices, students tended to avoid the most challenging topics, even when those were precisely the areas they needed the most practice in. Our findings show the tension between self-regulation (the learner’s ability to manage their own study) and autonomy (the freedom to choose). Without direction and support, autonomy can drift into avoidance.
Feedback from Students and Teachers
Students appreciated the clarity and organisation of the learning tool, as well as the visibility into their own progress. Personalised feedback, seeing data on their own learning, is key to metacognitive reflection – Which should direct self-regulation.
Students also noted reduced anxiety towards mathematics, attributed to the personalised pacing of the learning tool. For us here at MemoryLab, it’s uplifting to hear that our tool made mathematics (a famously fearsome subject) more approachable.
At the same time, the math teachers also indicated that self-regulated learning is a big challenge, and that these students are used to following instructions instead of taking initiative themselves. According to them, it is difficult to bridge the gap in the student’s mind between the practical training they are receiving, and the basic knowledge of math. If the student sees the importance of this, they will be more inclined to have a clear exercise plan and also to take on challenging exercises. Student motivation and self-efficacy remain key limiting factors.
Limitations and Recommendations
Similar projects in the future could benefit from a control group, to isolate the effect of MemoryLab from other effects (For example, the effect of a holiday before a test). Likewise, high baseline scores at Noorderpoort capped measurable improvement. For these learners, more difficult material would have been more effective at revealing improvement. Finally, as noted, students often avoided challenging material, even when it was needed most.
For future steps in the educational innovation cycle, we recommend:
- Personalised feedback with recommendations to help direct students’ choices. This would equip learners to regulate their own learning, which they struggled to do in this project.
- Guidance on self-regulation from teachers, to support students in making healthy study choices. In this project, we left students to their own devices, and they could have benefitted from more support.
- Targeted usage to explore specific areas that need support. Our findings of lowered anxiety highlight this as one promising avenue of future investigation.
Conclusion: Fulfilling Our Role in the Cycle
This pilot highlights the importance and responsibility of participating in a national learning system where investment, innovation, and implementation are forever intertwined. Our role, as researchers and developers, is to listen, investigate, and offer practical, science-led recommendations. This is how the loop is completed: Schools and governments act on those recommendations, invest in implementation, and continue to support the cycle.
That’s how the system spirals upwards: Research to classroom, back to research, and onward, towards a future where personalised learning enables all learners to make the most of their unique capabilities. Thanks to all involved in this project, students at Alfa College and Noorderpoort are already seeing this potential realised.
