Using Data-Driven Instructional Design to Optimize Student Outcomes

In this presentation, Benny G. Johnson, Ph.D., Director of Research & Development for Acrobatiq will discuss how advances in data-driven instructional design and learning analytics are enabling improvements in learning outcomes – particularly in high enrollment, general education gateway courses. Using learning curve analysis and related education data science techniques, Dr. Johnson will discuss and demonstrate how Acrobatiq is using outcomes-based course design and data-driven curriculum development techniques to improve course completions, increase student success rates, and enable deep insights into learning performance for faculty, course mentors and others involved in the learning process.

Acrobatiq’s data-driven instructional design methodology and adaptive learning technology draw on the success of more than a decade of research from Carnegie Mellon University’s Open Learning Initiative, a pioneer in cognitive and learning science research in online learning. This approach is proven to produce measurable learning gains for students, including improved retention and recall, faster course completion, and better long-term knowledge retention and retrieval.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Benny Johnson, Ph.D., Acrobatiq

Benny  holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Kentucky, and received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University in 1993, working with Professor John A. Pople, a 1998 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. As an undergraduate, he took first place in BFGoodrich’s prestigious Undergraduate Research Competition for his work on computer elucidation of reaction mechanisms. He has contributed substantially to numerous academic, commercial and government chemistry research software projects. For the past fifteen years, Dr. Johnson has worked in the field of artificial intelligence for education, leading the research and development effort of the Quantum technology for tutoring and assessment in chemistry, mathematics, accounting and special education.

Dr. Johnson is the author of over fifty scholarly publications in academic journals and books, and has delivered invited lectures at many national and international conferences. As principal investigator on various research and development projects, Dr. Johnson has received over $14 million in research funding from various agencies including the U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Based on his work in artificial intelligence technology for science and mathematics, he was invited to speak at the Education Secretary’s No Child Left Behind Technology Leadership Summit. He is a recipient of a national Tibbetts Award, the highest recognition given by the federal government to small businesses for innovative research, and in 2007 he was inducted into the University of Kentucky’s Alumni Hall of Fame. He enjoys playing music and powerlifting with his 19-year- old son.