Different E-learning Paradigms - a Survey

1. Different E-learning Paradigms - a Survey Terje Kristensen & Yngve Lamo, Faculty of Engineering, Institute of Computer Engineering* Grete Oline Hole, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences* Kristin Hinna, Faculty of Education* *Bergen University College, Norway

2. Introduction • Traditional classroom learning has been based on behaviourism (Stimulus-Response learning) • An alternative approach is constructivism that focuses on the learner’s ability to develop her own mental models and learning concepts • e-learning systems should support constructivism

3. Early e-learning Systems in Norway • The “Gudmundstad” project (1994-2002) • The “Reidar” project (1997-2004) • An important application of early systems was in English teaching

4. “Reidar” Project • For instance, in learning the phonetics of the English language • By developing a virtual keyboard the students learn how to relate English phonemes to their sounds • The students learn how to transcribe English words by clicking on the text or the phonetic symbols

5. ”Reidar” Project

6. It’s learning (1999-)http://www.itsolutions.no/ • The origin of this system was a student project at Bergen University College in 1999 • It is today one of the most used LMS in Europe • It’s learning is a tool for supporting different learning activities • Many of the tools are not really needed to design a course

7. It’s learning

8. Dynamic Presentation Generator (DPG) • One problem with traditional e-learning systems of today is that formatting is tightly coupled to content • The main idea behind the DPG system is to decouple those aspects by use of presentation patterns • Decoupling of formatting and content are not always trivial

9. Presentation Patterns • A presentation pattern specifies the pertinent aspects of a presentation: • Page rendering • Navigation • The semantic requirements of the content • Such a strategy decouples content from formatting • Both content and presentation pattern can then be reused

10. DPG System • The work flow model of the DPG comprises two phases: • The static phase, and • The dynamic phase • In the static phase the validating of data are taken place • Only validated data is stored in a XML database • The core of the dynamic phase is the Dynamic Publishing Engine (DPE) that render the presentation

11. Work Flow Model of the DPG System

12. The DCMCL System • The DCMCL (Dynamic Content Manager for Cognitive Learning) is based on the experience of the DPG system • The concept of dynamic presentation patterns introduced by DPG is used in the DCMCL project • The motivation of developing the DCMCL system is to separate learning content from a specific course

13. DCMCL system • The focus of the educator is to enhance: • Adding of new knowledge • Reuse of knowledge • Share of knowledge • Further development of knowledge structures • Presentation of knowledge in new ways • In DCMCL the concept of an atomic unit of knowledge is fundamental • Courses and concepts are developed by regrouping units of knowledge from the repository

14. Knowledge Elements • Knowledge elements consist of: • Learning material • Questions and quizzes • Questions and quizzes are related to specific knowledge elements • From the answers the system builds a specific knowledge profile, i.e. establish a student model

15. DCMCL Structure

16. Concept Map • DCMCL uses Concept Maps to model relationship that can be created by educators by selection of knowledge elements from the repository • A concept is some aggregation of knowledge constructed by the educator to represent an idea she wants to convey to her students • Formally, a Concept Map is a directed graph where the internal nodes are concepts and edges are relations between them

17. Concept Maps enhance Flexible Learning • In a specific course the motivation for using Concept Map is to model the dependencies in the learning process • The educator can specify different dependencies in the learning content that influences the students’ assimilation of knowledge • In the future the student may also make their own individual Concept Maps

18. Numbers Addition Repeat Invers Multiplication Subtraction Invers Repeat Division Sample Concept Map

19. Student Modelling • Questions are associated to knowledge elements • The system uses the students’ answers to build a simple model of the learner • Initially, the learner is put into some default category with respect to the content she is studying • An updated category is provided by DCMCL and is based on assessments of the exercises • The learner’s category is taken into account as a filtering mechanism while providing the learner with practical questions

20. Discussion • One problem with learning is the lack of an underlying learning structure • This means that the major challenge for e-learning systems is to develop a solid learning structure; • Not to further develop its technical functionality • Too many options of technical functionalities may disturb the learning process

21. Discussion • The DCMCL project aims to remove the tight coupling between learning material and specific courses • There are many reasons for this: • Adaptive learning • Flexibility in the learning process • Reuse and share of knowledge

22. Vision for World–Wide Education • The DCMCL project may help to fulfil UNESCO & World Bank’s aim of giving access to education for people in developing and emerging countries • It proposes a learning system which is flexible and adaptable • Literacy is important when education should be an instrument for social development • The DCMCL system intend to be a tool for increasing ICT literacy

23. Further work • One important challenge of e-learning systems of today is to create individually adapted learning • This can be realised by introducing more advanced student models combined with intelligent agents • Our future goal is to in-cooperate these aspects into the DCMCL system