Personalisation in educational technology: The absence of underlying pedagogies
Open accessAbstract
Personalization is one of the recurring themes in education and has occupied a large amount of specialised literature, since its appearance in the 1960s. A systematic exploration of the literature of the last 55 years (1960–2015) is presented and is intended to analyse which educational perspective underlies the customized environments or experiences proposed in the educational technology that is addressed in the literature. It is important to understand that this analysis is a very relevant challenge, if we want to understand what pedagogical approaches have been continuously developed and how and why we should consider their future. The results show a complete centralisation of experiences in technological developments, the majority of them focussed in Higher Education, as well as a lack of an explicit pedagogical perspective in the experiences analysed, especially those with greater impact. It also shows a shortage of in-house pedagogical material – developed in the light of this research, that evolves and makes an impact on the educational landscape.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A recent systematic literature review on personalisation in educational technology coincided with the predominance of experiences in technological developments, which also often used quantitative methods.
“A recent systematic literature review on personalisation in educational technology coincided with the predominance of experiences in technological developments, which also often used quantitative methods (Bartolomé, Castañeda, & Adell, 2018).”
From Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education – where are the educators? (2019) · cites this paper as Bartolomé, Castañeda, & Adell, 2018
The systematic review by Bartolomé et al. (2018) also revealed this lack of explicit pedagogical perspectives in the studies analysed.
“The systematic review by Bartolomé et al. (2018) also revealed this lack of explicit pedagogical perspectives in the studies analysed.”
From Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education – where are the educators? (2019) · cites this paper as Bartolomé et al. (2018)
The Decompose-Ask-Response (DAR) framework addresses Bartolomé et al.'s concerns over the lack of pedagogical grounding in educational technology.
“Using the Decompose-Ask-Response (DAR) framework, our research addresses Bartolomé et al. 's concerns over the lack of pedagogical grounding in educational technology [2].”
From AI-Assisted Teaching and Learning: A Real Application Of Course Design, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education (2025) · cites this paper as [2]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Learning by Expanding: An Activity-Theoretical Approach to Developmental Research
Engeström, Y. (2014) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139814744 · Cited by 4,991 · see citing works
The 2 Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring
BLOOM, B. S. (1984) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x013006004 · Cited by 2,734 · cited 1× · see citing works
“The idea of adapting teaching to the learner can be ascribed to the tradition of pupil-centred pedagogies (Coll, 2016), and to the work of authors as far removed from this tradition as Bloom (1984).”
Background
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 35
- Alheit, P. (1994) The 'biographical question' as a challenge to adult education. International Review of Education 40 (35):283 -298.
- Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: a revision of Bloom ' s taxonomy of educational objectives . New York: Addison Wesley Longman.
- Audi, R. (2011). Epistemology: a contemporary introduction to the theory of knowledge . New York: Routledge.
- Chih-Ming Chen, (2008) Intelligent web-based learning system with personalized learning path guidance. Computers & Education 51 (2):787 -814.
- Cobo, C. (2016). La Innovación Pendiente.: Reflexiones (y Provocaciones) sobre educación, tecnología y conocimiento. Montevideo: Penguin Random House.
- Bartolomé, A. (1994). Sistemas Multimedia. En Sancho, J. (1994). Para una tecnología Educativ a (pp. 193-220). Barcelona: Horsori.
- Bloom, B. S., Engelgart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H. Y., & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.) (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals. Handbook I: cognitive domain . New York: David McKay.
- Carlson, H. L. (1991). Learning style and program design in interactive multimedia. Educational Technology Research and Development , 39 (3), 41 -48.
- Coll, C. (2016). La personalització de l ' aprenentatge escolar: un repte indefugible. In J. M. En Vilalta (Ed.), Reptes de l ' educació a Catalunya. Anuari 2015 . Barcelona: Fundació Faume Bofill ISBN: 978-84-945264-8-0. http://www.fbofill. cat/sites/default/files/RepteseducacioCatalunya.Anuari2015\_041016.pdf.
- Conole, G. & Fill, K., (2005). A learning design toolkit to create pedagogically effective learning activities. Journal of Interactive Media in Education. 2005 (1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.5334/2005-8 · DOI
- Dede, C. (2008). Theoretical perspectives influencing the use of information technology in teaching and learning. In J. Voogt, & G. Knezek (Eds.), International handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education . New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73315-9\_60. · DOI
- Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: comparing critical features from a design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly , 6 (4), 50 -72.
- Friesen, N., & Hug, T. (2009). The mediatic turn: exploring concepts for media pedagogy. In K. Lundby (Ed.), Mediatization: concept, changes, consequences , (pp. 63 -83). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
- Gillespie, F. (2002). Instructional design for the new technologies. New Directions for Teaching and Learning , 76 . https:// doi.org/10.1002/tl.7603. · DOI
- Holma, K., & Hyytinen, H. (2015). The philosophy of personal epistemology. Theory and Research in Education , 13 (3), 334 -350.
- Hung, D. (2001). Theories of learning and computer-mediated instructional technologies. Educational Media International , 38 (4), 281 -287. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523980110105114. · DOI
- Illeris, K. (2009). A comprehensive understanding of human learning. In K. Illeris (Ed.), Contemporary theories of learning: learning theorists … in their own words , (pp. 7 -20). London: Routledge.
- Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., & Hall, C. (2016). NMC horizon report: 2016 higher education edition . Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
- Larkin, J., & Chabay, R. (Eds.) (1992). Computer-assisted instruction and intelligent tutoring systems: shared goals and complementary approaches , Technology in Education Series (). Hillsdale (NJ): Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Lumsdaine, A. A., & Glaser, R. (Eds.) (1960). Teaching machines and programmed learning: a source book . Oxford: National Education Association.
- Martínez, F. (2001). El profesorado ante las Nuevas Tecnologías. In F. Blazquez (Ed.) Sociedad de la Información y Educación, pp. 193 -215. Badajoz: Junta de Extremadura.
- Marzano, R. (2001). Designing a new taxonomy of educational objectives. In T. R. Guskey, & R. Marzano (Eds.), Experts in assessment series . Thousand Oaks, CA: Orwin Press.
- Marzano, R., & Kendall, J. (2007). The new taxonomy of educational objectives , (Segunda Edición ed., ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Orwin Press.
- McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2010). Research in education: evidence-based inquiry . Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Millward, R., Mazzucchelli, L., Magoon, S., & Moore, R. (1978). Intelligent computer-assisted instruction. Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation , 10 (2), 213 -217. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205127. · DOI
- Najjar, L. J. (1998). Principles of educational multimedia user interface design. Human Factors , 40 (2), 311 -323.
- Okoli, C., & Schabram, K. (2010). A guide to conducting a systematic literature review of information systems research. Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems , 10 , 26.
- Rogers, C.R. (1951). Client -centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications, and Theory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Rickel, J. W. (1989). Intelligent computer-aided instruction: a survey organized around system components. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics , 19 (1), 40 -57. https://doi.org/10.1109/21.24530. · DOI
- Selwyn, N. (2016). Is technology good for education? Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism. A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2 (1), 3-10. Retrieved from: http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan\_05/article01.htm
- Skinner, B. F. (1965). The Technology of Teaching. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences , 162 (989), 427 -443 http://olms.cte.jhu.edu/olms2/data/resource/99656/Skinner%20(1965).pdf.
- Skinner, B. F. (1960). Teaching machines. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 42 (3), 189 -191 http://www.jstor.org/ stable/1926170
- Snowden, D. J., & Boone, M. E. (2007). A leader's framework for decision making. Harvard business review, 85(11), 68. Taylor, R. (Ed.) (1980). The computer in the school: tutor, tool, tutee . New York: Teachers College Press.
- Verhagen, P. (2006). Connectivism: a new learning theory. Journal of Educational Computing Research , 2 (3), 379 -393. https://doi.org/10.2190/D4JW-NR13-ADTA-MR8A. · DOI
- Williamson, B. (2013). The future of the curriculum: school knowledge in the digital age . London: MA: The MIT Press.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Zawacki-Richter, O., Marín, V. I., Bond, M., & Gouverneur, F. (2019) · International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education · doi:10.1186/s41239-019-0171-0 · Cited by 7,242 · see citing works
“The systematic review by Bartolomé et al. (2018) also revealed this lack of explicit pedagogical perspectives in the studies analysed.”
BackgroundPower to the Teachers: An Exploratory Review on Artificial Intelligence in Education
Lameras, P., & Arnab, S. (2021) · Information · doi:10.3390/info13010014 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
Artificial intelligence-enabled adaptive learning platforms: A review
Tan, L. Y., Hu, S., Yeo, D. J., & Cheong, K. H. (2025) · Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.caeai.2025.100429 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Personalisation methods in e-learning-A literature review
Mikić, V., Ilić, M., Kopanja, L., & Vesin, B. (2022) · Computer Applications in Engineering Education · doi:10.1002/cae.22566 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Kowitlawakul, Y., Tan, J. J. M., Suebnukarn, S., Nguyen, H. D., Poo, D. C. C., Chai, J., Kamala, D. M., & Wang, W. (2024) · CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing · doi:10.1097/cin.0000000000001103 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Wang, J., Li, Y., & Qian, Y. (2025) · Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Conference on Education and Multimedia Technology · doi:10.1145/3761843.3761883
- Authors
- Bartolomé, A., Castañeda, L., & Adell, J.
- Affiliations
- Universidad de Murcia (ES)
- Venue
- International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education
- Published
- 2018-04-02
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2365-9440 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2796107184
- Cited by
- 150
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 25.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Repositori UJI (Universitat Jaume I) (publishedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Educational Technology in Learning
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Educational Technology and E-Learning
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Digital Education and Society
- Keywords
- educational technology, teaching methods, conceptions of teaching, higher education
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
