The backstory
I'm a college student getting crushed by the pace of everything. I wasn't failing – my grades were fine – but I felt like I was constantly drowning. The way information was presented just didn't click with how my brain works.
I had an unfair advantage though: prior knowledge in my field. But watching my classmates who were starting from zero? They were struggling way worse than me, and it wasn't their fault.
So I did what any programmer does when frustrated: I built something to solve my own problem.
The accidental discovery
I created this simple tool that learned my study patterns and adapted content to match how I actually think. Suddenly, studying became... enjoyable? I could actually absorb information instead of fighting it.
I wasn't planning to show anyone. It was just my personal hack to survive college.
But I needed validation that I wasn't building something completely useless, so I showed it to a classmate. We weren't even close friends – just someone I happened to sit next to.
His reaction stopped me cold: "Dude, I'd actually pay for this."
This is significant because I live in a country where people will spend three hours finding a cracked version of software rather than pay $5 for it. If he was willing to pay, something bigger was happening.
The real problem I stumbled into
That moment made me realize: students aren't failing because they're lazy or stupid. They're failing because we're trying to teach everyone the same way.
Some people are visual learners. Others need to hear things. Some learn by doing. But most educational tools – even the fancy AI ones – still treat everyone identically.
We've digitized the classroom but kept all its fundamental flaws.
What I learned building for actual students
After sharing my tool with more people, I discovered something fascinating: everyone has completely different learning patterns. Not just "visual vs auditory" – but deep, weird preferences about how information should flow.
One person learns best when they're slightly frustrated. Another needs tons of positive reinforcement. Someone else can only absorb complex concepts through analogies to things they already know.
The more I customized for each person, the better their results got.
Where this is heading
I think we're on the edge of something huge. Not just "personalized learning" – that's marketing speak. I mean truly adaptive systems that mold themselves around how each brain actually works.
Imagine AI that doesn't just answer your questions but learns your cognitive fingerprint. It knows you think in stories, struggle with abstract concepts in the morning, and need to argue with ideas before you accept them.
The technology is already here. We're just not applying it to education yet.
The uncomfortable prediction
I think traditional classrooms are going to become obsolete. Not because of technology, but because we'll finally admit they were never optimal for learning – just optimal for managing lots of students efficiently.
When you can have an AI tutor that understands exactly how you learn, sitting in a lecture hall listening to someone teach to the "average student" will feel absurd.
Questions I'm wrestling with
How do we measure success when everyone's learning path is different?
What happens to the social aspects of learning?
Can we make truly personalized education accessible to everyone?
Are we ready for a world where learning is actually optimized for each individual?
I'm curious what others think. Have you noticed differences in how you learn vs. how you're taught? What would education look like if we designed it around individuals instead of crowds?
abilafredkb•7mo ago
I had an unfair advantage though: prior knowledge in my field. But watching my classmates who were starting from zero? They were struggling way worse than me, and it wasn't their fault. So I did what any programmer does when frustrated: I built something to solve my own problem.
The accidental discovery I created this simple tool that learned my study patterns and adapted content to match how I actually think. Suddenly, studying became... enjoyable? I could actually absorb information instead of fighting it.
I wasn't planning to show anyone. It was just my personal hack to survive college. But I needed validation that I wasn't building something completely useless, so I showed it to a classmate. We weren't even close friends – just someone I happened to sit next to. His reaction stopped me cold: "Dude, I'd actually pay for this."
This is significant because I live in a country where people will spend three hours finding a cracked version of software rather than pay $5 for it. If he was willing to pay, something bigger was happening. The real problem I stumbled into That moment made me realize: students aren't failing because they're lazy or stupid. They're failing because we're trying to teach everyone the same way.
Some people are visual learners. Others need to hear things. Some learn by doing. But most educational tools – even the fancy AI ones – still treat everyone identically. We've digitized the classroom but kept all its fundamental flaws.
What I learned building for actual students After sharing my tool with more people, I discovered something fascinating: everyone has completely different learning patterns. Not just "visual vs auditory" – but deep, weird preferences about how information should flow. One person learns best when they're slightly frustrated. Another needs tons of positive reinforcement. Someone else can only absorb complex concepts through analogies to things they already know.
The more I customized for each person, the better their results got.
Where this is heading I think we're on the edge of something huge. Not just "personalized learning" – that's marketing speak. I mean truly adaptive systems that mold themselves around how each brain actually works. Imagine AI that doesn't just answer your questions but learns your cognitive fingerprint. It knows you think in stories, struggle with abstract concepts in the morning, and need to argue with ideas before you accept them. The technology is already here. We're just not applying it to education yet.
The uncomfortable prediction I think traditional classrooms are going to become obsolete. Not because of technology, but because we'll finally admit they were never optimal for learning – just optimal for managing lots of students efficiently.
When you can have an AI tutor that understands exactly how you learn, sitting in a lecture hall listening to someone teach to the "average student" will feel absurd.
Questions I'm wrestling with
How do we measure success when everyone's learning path is different?
What happens to the social aspects of learning?
Can we make truly personalized education accessible to everyone?
Are we ready for a world where learning is actually optimized for each individual?
I'm curious what others think. Have you noticed differences in how you learn vs. how you're taught? What would education look like if we designed it around individuals instead of crowds?