Embedding-Based Rankings of Educational Resources based on Learning Outcome Alignment: Benchmarking, Expert Validation, and Learner Performance

As the online learning landscape evolves, the need for personalization is increasingly evident. Although educational resources are burgeoning, educators face challenges selecting materials that both align with intended learning outcomes and address diverse learner needs. Large Language Models (LLMs) are attracting growing interest for their potential to create learning resources that better support personalization, but verifying coverage of intended outcomes still requires human alignment review, which is costly and limits scalability. We propose a framework that supports the cost-effective automation of evaluating alignment between educational resources and intended learning outcomes. Using human-generated materials, we benchmarked LLM-based text-embedding models and found that the most accurate model (Voyage) achieved 79% accuracy in detecting alignment. We then applied the optimal model to LLM-generated resources and, via expert evaluation, confirmed that it reliably assessed correspondence to intended outcomes (83% accuracy). Finally, in a three-group experiment with 360 learners, higher alignment scores were positively related to greater learning performance, chi-squared(2, N = 360) = 15.39, p < 0.001. These findings show that embedding-based alignment scores can facilitate scalable personalization by confirming alignment with learning outcomes, which allows teachers to focus on tailoring content to diverse learner needs.

LLM-Driven Personalized Answer Generation and Evaluation

Online learning has experienced rapid growth due to its flexibility and accessibility. Personalization, adapted to the needs of individual learners, is crucial for enhancing the learning experience, particularly in online settings. A key aspect of personalization is providing learners with answers customized to their specific questions. This paper therefore explores the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate personalized answers to learners' questions, thereby enhancing engagement and reducing the workload on educators. To evaluate the effectiveness of LLMs in this context, we conducted a comprehensive study using the StackExchange platform in two distinct areas: language learning and programming. We developed a framework and a dataset for validating automatically generated personalized answers. Subsequently, we generated personalized answers using different strategies, including 0-shot, 1-shot, and few-shot scenarios. The generated answers were evaluated using three methods: 1. BERTScore, 2. LLM evaluation, and 3. human evaluation. Our findings indicated that providing LLMs with examples of desired answers (from the learner or similar learners) can significantly enhance the LLMs' ability to tailor responses to individual learners' needs.