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Meta-Analysis
. 2025;37(5):479-493.
doi: 10.1080/08995605.2024.2377884. Epub 2024 Jul 31.

Adaptive training instructional interventions: A meta-analysis

Nicholas W Fraulini  1 , Matthew D Marraffino  2 , Allison E Garibaldi  1 , Cheryl I Johnson  2 , Daphne E Whitmer  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Adaptive training instructional interventions: A meta-analysis

Nicholas W Fraulini et al. Mil Psychol. 2025.

Abstract

The United States military services are modernizing their training and education curricula by leveraging advances in technology to deliver instruction that is more engaging and responsive to trainees' needs and better prepares them for the future fight. Adaptive training (AT), or training tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of individual trainees, is a promising technique to meet these modernization goals. The research literature, however, is sporadic and does not clearly prescribe best practices for its employment. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of various AT instructional interventions (i.e. adapting difficulty, feedback, scaffolding, etc.) on learning outcomes. There were 30 peer-reviewed publications included in the analysis. We grouped studies by the adaptive intervention examined and reported the associated effects on learning outcomes. Overall, the results revealed that the effectiveness of AT varied considerably across the instructional interventions. Specifically, studies that implemented adaptive difficulty techniques were the most effective, followed by adaptive scaffolding and remediation/test-out techniques. Based on these findings, we identify design recommendations for future AT systems.

Keywords: Adaptive training; adaptive instructional systems; adaptive learning; instructional strategies; meta-analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram (Moher et al., 2009).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Forest plot of effect sizes by adaptive intervention; 95% confidence (black) and prediction (green) intervals shown.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Forest plot of effect sizes for all combinations of adaptive interventions; 95% confidence (black) and prediction intervals (green) shown.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Funnel plot of included effect sizes and their associated standard errors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the meta-analysis.
    1. Abich, J., Parker, J., Murphy, J. S., & Eudy, M. (2021). A review of the evidence for training effectiveness with virtual reality technology. Virtual Reality, 25(4), 919–933. 10.1007/s10055-020-00498-8 - DOI
    1. *Ahmad, T. R., Ashraf, D. C., Kellman, P. J., Krasne, S., & Ramanathan, S. (2021). Training visual pattern recognition in ophthalmology using a perceptual and adaptive learning module. Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology, 59(2), e135–e141. 10.1016/j.jcjo.2023.01.016 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allvin, D. W. (2024). The case for change. https://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/2024SAF/GPC/The_Case_for_Change.pdf
    1. *Azevedo, R., Cromley, J. G., Moos, D. C., Greene, J. A., & Winters, F. I. (2011). Adaptive content and process scaffolding: A key to facilitating students’ self-regulated learning with hypermedia. Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, 53(1), 106.

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