Mass Customization as an Educational Paradigm: Design and Pilot Evaluation of a Mass-Customized, Problem-Based Learning Environment

Several authors point at mass customization as an application that is already proven and established in the economical sector. They demand similar applications in education, aimed at adapting courses and training to the individual characteristics of a high number of students, but without causing additional costs. However the available educational research literature provides neither explicit design principles for mass-customized learning environments nor examples of such applications. This contribution formulates in its first section four design principles of MC, deduced from a literature review in the field of economics. It shows related work from the educational field, discussing its relevance for MC as well as its limitations. The second part presents amittrade, an example of mass-customized, problem-based learning environment, along with the pilot evaluation results and some conclusions for further development and research