KnowledgeTree: a distributed architecture for adaptive e-learning

ABSTRACT

This paper presents KnowledgeTree, an architecture for adaptive E-Learning based on distributed reusable intelligent learning activities. The goal of KnowledgeTree is to bridge the gap between the currently popular approach to Web-based education, which is centered on learning management systems vs. the powerful but underused technologies in intelligent tutoring and adaptive hypermedia. This integrative architecture attempts to address both the component-based assembly of adaptive systems and teacher-level reusability.

REFERENCES

• 1: ADLI Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative, 2003, available online at http://www.adlnet.org/
• 2: ADLI Overview of SCORM 2004, Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative, 2004, available online at http://www.adlnet.org/screens/shares/dsp_displayfile.cfm?fileid=992
• 3: AICC AGR010 - Web-based Computer Managed Instruction (CMI). Ver. 1.0, Aviation Industry CBT Committee, 1998, available online at http://www.aicc.org/pages/down-docs-index.htm.
• 4: Blackboard Inc. Blackboard Course Management System, Blackboard Inc., 2002, available online at http://www.blackboard.com/
• 5: Brusilovsky, P. Student model centered architecture for intelligent learning environment. In: Proc. of Fourth International Conference on User Modeling, (Hyannis, MA, 15-19 August 1994), MITRE, 31--36, available online at http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/ peterb/papers/UM94.html.
• 6: Brusilovsky, P. Adaptive and Intelligent Technologies for Web-based Education. Kunstliche Intelligenz, 4 (1999), 19--25, available online at http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/ peterb/papers/KI-review.html.
• 7: Brusilovsky, P. WebEx: Learning from examples in a programming course. In: Fowler, W. and Hasebrook, J. (eds.) Proc. of WebNet'2001, World Conference of the WWW and Internet, (Orlando, FL, October 23-27, 2001), AACE, 124--129.
• 8: Peter Brusilovsky , John Eklund , Elmar Schwarz, Web-based education for all: a tool for development adaptive courseware, Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, v.30 n.1-7, p.291-300, April 1, 1998
• 9: Peter Brusilovsky , Mark T. Maybury, From adaptive hypermedia to the adaptive web, Communications of the ACM, v.45 n.5, May 2002 [doi>10.1145/506218.506239]
• 10: Brusilovsky, P. and Miller, P. Course Delivery Systems for the Virtual University. In: Tschang, T. and Della Senta, T. (eds.): Access to Knowledge: New Information Technologies and the Emergence of the Virtual University. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 2001, 167--206.
• 11: Brusilovsky, P. and Nijhawan, H. A Framework for Adaptive E-Learning Based on Distributed Re-usable Learning Activities. In: Driscoll, M. and Reeves, T. C. (eds.) Proc. of World Conference on E-Learning, E-Learn 2002, (Montreal, Canada, October 15-19, 2002), AACE, 154--161.
• 12: Brusilovsky, P., Ritter, S., and Schwarz, E. Distributed intelligent tutoring on the Web. In: du Boulay, B. and Mizoguchi, R. (eds.) Artificial Intelligence in Education: Knowledge and Media in Learning Systems. IOS, Amsterdam, 1997, 482--489.
• 13: Peter Brusilovsky , Riccardo Rizzo, Using maps and landmarks for navigation between closed and open corpus hyperspace in Web-based education, The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, v.8 n.1, p.59-82, January 2003 [doi>10.1080/13614560208914736]
• 14: Byous, J. Single sign-on simplicity with SAM: An overview of single sign-on capabilities based on the Security Assertions Markup Language (SAML) specification, Sun Microsystems, Inc., 2002, available online at http://java.sun.com/features/2002/05/single-signon.html.
• 15: Conlan, O., Dagger, D., and Wade, V. Towards a standards-based approach to e-Learning personalization using reusable learning objects. In: Driscoll, M. and Reeves, T.C. (eds.) Proc. of World Conference on E-Learning, E-Learn 2002, (Montreal, Canada, October 15-19, 2002), AACE, 210--217.
• 16: Conlan, O., Wade, V., Gargan, M., Hockemeyer, C., and Albert, D. An architecture for integrating adaptive hypermedia services with open learning environments. In: Barker, P. and Rebelsky, S. (eds.) Proc. of ED-MEDIA'2002 - World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, (Denver, CO, June 24-29, 2002), AACE, 344--350.
• 17: Dagger, D., Conlan, O., and Wade, V. P. An architecture for candidacy in adaptive eLearning systems to facilitate the reuse of learning Resources. In: Rossett, A. (ed.) Proc. of World Conference on E-Learning, E-Learn 2003, (Phoenix, AZ, USA, November 7-11, 2003), AACE, 49--56.
• 18: A. Dieberger , P. Dourish , K. Höök , P. Resnick , A. Wexelblat, Social navigation: techniques for building more usable systems, interactions, v.7 n.6, p.36-45, Nov./Dec. 2000 [doi>10.1145/352580.352587]
• 19: Dolog, P., Gavriloaie, R., Nejdl, W., and Brase, J. Integrating Adaptive Hypermedia Techniques and Open RDF-Based Environments. In: Proc. of The Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference, WWW 2003, (Budapest, Hungary, 20-24 May, 2003), 88--98.
• 20: Dolog, P. and Henze, N. Personalization Services for Adaptive Educational Hypermedia. In: Proc. of International Workshop on Adaptivity and User Modelling in Interactive Systems (ABIS'2003), (Karlsruhe, Germany, October 2003).
• 21: Dolog, P. and Nejdl, W. Challenges and benefits of the semantic Web for user modeling. In: De Bra, P., Davis, H., Kay, J. and schraefel, m. (eds.) Proc. of AH2003: Workshop on adaptive hypermedia and adaptive Web-based systems, (Budapest, Hungary, Eindhoven University of Technology, 99--111.
• 22: Eliot, C., Woolf, B., and Lesser, V. Knowledge extraction for educational planning. In: Proc. of Workshop on Multi-Agent Architectures for Distributed Learning Environments at AIED'2001, (San Antonio, May 19, 2001), available online at http://julita.usask.ca/mable/eliot.doc.
• 23: JA-SIG A general overview of uPortal 2.x, Java Architectures SIG, 2003, available online at http://mis105.mis.udel.edu/ja-sig/uportal/architecture/uPortal_architecture_overview.pdf.
• 24: Karagiannidis, C., Sampson, D. G., and Cardinali, F. An architecture for Web-based e-Learning promoting re-usable adaptive educational e-content. Educational Technology & Society, 5, 4 (2002).
• 25: Kay, J. The UM toolkit for cooperative user models. User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, 4, 3 (1995), 149--196.
• 26: Judy Kay , Bob Kummerfeld , Piers Lauder, Personis: A Server for User Models, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web-Based Systems, p.203-212, May 29-31, 2002
• 27: Alfred Kobsa, Generic User Modeling Systems, User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, v.11 n.1-2, p.49-63, 2001 [doi>10.1023/A:1011187500863]
• 28: Isabel Machado , Alexandre Martins , Ana Paiva, One for all and all in one: a learner modelling server in a multi-agent platform, Proceedings of the seventh international conference on User modeling, p.211-221, June 1999, Banff, Canada
• 29: Melis, E., Andrès, E., Büdenbender, J., Frishauf, A., Goguadse, G., Libbrecht, P., Pollet, M., and Ullrich, C. ActiveMath: A web-based learning environment. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 12, 4 (2001), 385--407.
• 30: Murray, T. A Model for Distributed Curriculum on the World Wide Web. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, (1998), available online at http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/98/5/.
• 31: Wolfgang Nejdl , Boris Wolf , Changtao Qu , Stefan Decker , Michael Sintek , Ambjörn Naeve , Mikael Nilsson , Matthias Palmér , Tore Risch, EDUTELLA: a P2P networking infrastructure based on RDF, Proceedings of the 11th international conference on World Wide Web, May 07-11, 2002, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA [doi>10.1145/511446.511525]
• 32: Oda, T., Satoh, H., and Watanabe, S. Searching deadlocked Web learners by measuring similarity of learning activities. In: Proc. of Workshop "WWW-Based Tutoring" at 4th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS'98), (San Antonio, TX, August 16-19, 1998), available online at http://www.sw.cas.uec.ac.jp/ watanabe/conference/its98workshop1.ps.
• 33: Pathak, S. and Brusilovsky, P. Assessing Student Programming Knowledge with Web-based Dynamic Parameterized Quizzes. In: Barker, P. and Rebelsky, S. (eds.) Proc. of ED-MEDIA'2002 - World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, (Denver, CO, June 24-29, 2002), AACE, 1548--1553.
• 34: Rios, A., Millán, E., Trella, M., Pérez, J. L., and Conejo, R. Internet based evaluation system. In: Lajoie, S.P. and Vivet, M. (eds.) Artificial Intelligence in Education: Open Learning Environments. IOS Press, Amsterdam, 1999, 387--394.
• 35: Steven Ritter , Peter Brusilovsky , Olga Medvedeva, Creating More Versatile Intelligent Learning Environments with a Component-Based Architecture, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, p.554-563, August 16-19, 1998
• 36: Steven Ritter , Kenneth R. Koedinger, An architecture for plug-in tutor agents, Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, v.7 n.3-4, p.315-347, 1996
• 37: Soller, A. and Lesgold, A. A computational approach to analysing online knowledge sharing interaction. In: Hoppe, U., Verdejo, F. and Kay, J. (eds.) Artificial intelligence in education: Shaping the future of learning through intelligent technologies. IOS Press, Amsterdam, 2003, 253--260.
• 38: Specht, M., Kravcik, M., Pesin, L., and Klemke, R. Learner's Lounge: Information Brokering for the Adaptive Learning Environment. In: Driscoll, M. and Reeves, T. C. (eds.) Proc. of World Conference on E-Learning, E-Learn 2002, (Montreal, Canada, October 15-19, 2002), AACE, 2510--2512.
• 39: Ternier, S., Duval, E., and Vandepitte, P. LOMster: Peer-to-peer Learning Object Metadata. In: Barker, P. and Rebelsky, S. (eds.) Proc. of ED-MEDIA'2002 - World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, (Denver, CO, June 24-29, 2002), AACE, 1942--1943.
• 40: Thorne, S., Shubert, C., and Merriman, J. OKI Architectural Overview, Open Knowledge Initiative, 2002, available online at http://web.mit.edu/oki/learn/whtpapers/ArchitecturalOverview.pdf.
• 41: Verhoeven, B., Cardinaels, K., Van Durm, R., Duval, E., and Olivié, H. Experiences with the ARIADNE pedagogical document repository. In: Proc. of ED-MEDIA'2001 - World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, (Tampere, Finland, June 25-30, 2001), AACE, 1949-1954.
• 42: WebCT WebCT Course Management System, Lynnfield, MA, WebCT, Inc., 2002, available online at http://www.webct.com
• 43: Weber, G. and Brusilovsky, P. ELM-ART: An adaptive versatile system for Web-based instruction. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 12, 4 (2001), 351--384, available online at http://cbl.leeds.ac.uk/ijaied/abstracts/Vol_12/weber.html.
• 44: Gerhard Weber , Hans-Christian Kuhl , Stephan Weibelzahl, Developing Adaptive Internet Based Courses with the Authoring System NetCoach, Revised Papers from the nternational Workshops OHS-7, SC-3, and AH-3 on Hypermedia: Openness, Structural Awareness, and Adaptivity, p.226-238, August 14-18, 2001

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education
          Subjects: Distance learning

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Management, Standardization

Keywords:
adaptive content service, adaptive web, content re-use, e-learning, learning object metadata, learning portal, student model server