Fuzzy User Profiling in e-Learning Contexts

Author(s):  
Corrado Mencar ◽  
Ciro Castiello ◽  
Anna Maria Fanelli
Author(s):  
Rodney Arambewela

The increasing class sizes, changing expectations, diversity and mobility of students and the use of computer technology in teaching have challenged universities, world over, to review educational courses and delivery to provide a more satisfying learning experience to students. Understanding how students learn is essential in this process and continuous enquiry into teaching practices for their effectiveness towards enhancement of student learning outcomes is therefore considered a vital strategy. This chapter discusses an exploratory study on the differences in the learning approaches of a group of students in a second year marketing course in an Australian university. E-learning system remains the primary communication and the learning resource of these students. Results indicate that there are no significant differences in the study approaches of students but on average they seem to demonstrate deep learning than surface learning although they may differ in terms of the learning contexts. The study also reveals that in comparison female students and older aged students seem to demonstrate deep learning orientations than surface learning orientations.


Author(s):  
Jody S. Underwood

Recommender systems in e-learning contexts typically try to “intelligently” recommend actions to a learner based on the actions of previous learners. One of the limitations of such systems is that a lot of data is needed in order to recommend meaningful activities. This chapter describes one approach for addressing this limitation in a framework that uses a structured map of mathematics concepts and processes to power a recommender system that will recommend to students digital learning activities for which they are ready. This recommender system is called Metis, for the Greek goddess of good advice, and is currently in the design phase. Metis takes seriously the idea that to build on the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that a student has, it is essential to identify those KSAs. Trying to build on KSAs that a student does not have is misguided. Metis recommends activities linked to KSAs that students are ready to learn, and more standard recommender algorithms further refine the list of recommended activities. Taking this approach has the potential to make activities more engaging, which can lead learners to greater interest in the content area.


Author(s):  
Pearl Chen

This chapter reviews the current state of theory and practice of experience design and suggests that the notion of experience should be regarded as an essential and unifying theme in guiding a broader perspective of design and study of e-learning. Underlying this chapter is a view that suggests a shift from designing learning environments to “staging” learning experiences. By looking at learning through the prism of experience design, we may begin to discover ways to create compelling, memorable, and transformative e-learning experiences. Some existing models and effective practices in education are considered as viable models for adapting experience design to e-learning contexts. Furthermore, this chapter identifies some converging areas of research from the fields of experience design and education, so as not to reinvent the wheel but to expand our knowledge on designing quality e-learning experiences that are engaging and valued by people.


Author(s):  
M. A. Rentroia-Bonito ◽  
J. Jorge ◽  
C. Ghaoui

Technology-rich environments are assuming a key role in the individual learning processes. Still, one of the major IT challenges identified in the education field is to establish e-learning as a credible and viable complement to face-to-face education. This represents a paradigm shift in the way of learning, which is driving changes at individual, process, institutional, and societal levels. However, despite last-decade advances in the application of usability principles in system design, there is still a need to better understand the people-technology fit in learning contexts. Current results, gaps, and issues define the challenges that dictate new requirements. Among these new requirements, minimizing the impact of the distance factor on communication and learning effectiveness calls for alternatives approaches. Due to the importance of communication among instructor and students in learning, the scope of this work focuses on exploring the role of emotions within the user and learning-support technology fit.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine S Fichten ◽  
Mai N Nguyen ◽  
Jennison V Asuncion ◽  
Maria Barile ◽  
Jillian Budd Budd ◽  
...  

This study evaluates how well information and communication technology (ICT) related needs of students with various disabilities are met at school, at home, and in e-learning contexts. Results are based on the POSITIVES Scale, a 26 item ob-jective measure of how well the ICT related needs of these students are met. The sample consists of 131 students from French and 1202 students from English lan-guage universities and junior/community colleges with various disabilities from across Canada. Although the results generally show more favourable than unfa-vourable scores, these are affected by the nature of students’ disabilities and by context: home or school. Generally, both groups had similar views about cir-cumstances where their needs were poorly met and about what worked well. The findings suggest that linguistic and policy considerations have an impact on how well the ICT related needs of students with different disabilities are met in differ-ent parts of Canada.


Author(s):  
Shalin Hai-Jew

What features describe a quality digital image for e-learning? From concept to actualization, what steps will likely lead to more effective results? This chapter examines the various aspects of successful digital imagery in various e-learning contexts, and it includes strategies for how to identify quality objectives and to execute to achieve these. This includes ideas on how to make the digital imagery for more identifiable, transferable and usable as a visual object in a digital repository.


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