SWA-KMDLS: An Enhanced e-Learning Management System Using Semantic Web and Knowledge Management Technology

In this era of knowledge economy in which knowledge have become the most precious resource, surveys have shown that e-Learning has been on the increasing trend in various organizations including, among others, education and corporate. The use of e-Learning is not only aim to acquire knowledge but also to maintain competitiveness and advantages for individuals or organizations. However, the early promise of e-Learning has yet to be fully realized, as it has been no more than a handout being published online, coupled with simple multiple-choice quizzes. The emerging of e-Learning 2.0 that is empowered by Web 2.0 technology still hardly overcome common problem such as information overload and poor content aggregation in a highly increasing number of learning objects in an e-Learning Management System (LMS) environment. The aim of this research study is to exploit the Semantic Web (SW) and Knowledge Management (KM) technology; the two emerging and promising technology to enhance the existing LMS. The proposed system is named as Semantic Web Aware-Knowledge Management Driven e-Learning System (SWA-KMDLS). An Ontology approach that is the backbone of SW and KM is introduced for managing knowledge especially from learning object and developing automated question answering system (Aquas) with expert locator in SWA-KMDLS. The METHONTOLOGY methodology is selected to develop the Ontology in this research work. The potential of SW and KM technology is identified in this research finding which will benefit e-Learning developer to develop e-Learning system especially with social constructivist pedagogical approach from the point of view of KM framework and SW environment. The (semi-) automatic ontological knowledge base construction system (SAOKBCS) has contributed to knowledge extraction from learning object semiautomatically whilst the Aquas with expert locator has facilitated knowledge retrieval that encourages knowledge sharing in e-Learning environment. The experiment conducted has shown that the SAOKBCS can extract concept that is the main component of Ontology from text learning object with precision of 86.67%, thus saving the expert time and effort to build Ontology manually. Additionally the experiment on Aquas has shown that more than 80% of users are satisfied with answers provided by the system. The expert locator framework can also improve the performance of Aquas in the future usage. Keywords: semantic web aware – knowledge e-Learning Management System (SWAKMDLS), semi-automatic ontological knowledge base construction system (SAOKBCS), automated question answering system (Aquas), Ontology, expert locator

Enhancing student learning journeys with semantically annotated content

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThere is an increasing interest in developing existing Special Educational Needs (SEN) teaching methods due to recent concerns regarding the number of SEN pupils in schools. Communication is difficult for students when they have little or no clear speech. Consequently, a range of communication systems are used as an alternative to speech, including symbols, pictures or gestures. Importantly, helping students to better communicate also improves their education, friendships and independence. However, it is acknowledged that creating these educational resources is time consuming and expensive, and the learning results are not recognised as being as effective as required. Semantic Web technology has had an impact in the educational field and offers the required linkages for more engagement with Web content. There is, however, a considerable gap in Semantic Web research between the contributions in the mainstream educational field and research undertaken into special educational needs (SEN) students. This thesis presents an augmented World Wide Web (WWW) vision utilising annotation to more effectively support diverse special educational needs students. Students are supported in part by a SEN Teaching Platform (SENTP), one artefact from this design science research. Poetry is used as a website teaching material because of its significant impact on special needs students as it is a difficult topic to understand. The first stage of the research is to select the appropriate tools for testing annotation techniques in a real SEN environment. Later, a design of the proposed SEN teaching platform is built based on a Semantic Web annotation tool (Amaya) coordinated with a web application. Design is evaluated by conducting a pilot study in schools caring for special needs students (SEN). Evaluations were carried out at two schools, interviewing nine participants (Teachers, Teaching Assistant) in the UK. SENTP is tested for using Semantic Web technology to benefit the education of SEN students by utilizing Semantic Web annotation tools. This research further improves the SENTP with additional support for cognitive load using specific annotation formats within the Amaya annotation tool. Field testing is carried out at six UK schools with twenty-two participants being interviewed. Cognitive load principles are shown to improve both learning and class behaviour, also supporting teachers in the production of educational content. The pilot study and field testing results reveal that the proposed approach is effective. Following this, designed artefacts are synthesised within a wider design blueprint that articulates how this new world of annotated digital media is designed, deployed and consumed. Finally, SENTP ontology is created using OWL language and Protégé 5. The main goal of this ontology is to produce a wider design SENTP ontology that can be adapted to wider teaching purposes

CHORUS Deliverable 2.2: Second report - identification of multi-disciplinary key issues for gap analysis toward EU multimedia search engines roadmap

After addressing the state-of-the-art during the first year of Chorus and establishing the existing landscape in multimedia search engines, we have identified and analyzed gaps within European research effort during our second year. In this period we focused on three directions, notably technological issues, user-centred issues and use-cases and socio- economic and legal aspects. These were assessed by two central studies: firstly, a concerted vision of functional breakdown of generic multimedia search engine, and secondly, a representative use-cases descriptions with the related discussion on requirement for technological challenges. Both studies have been carried out in cooperation and consultation with the community at large through EC concertation meetings (multimedia search engines cluster), several meetings with our Think-Tank, presentations in international conferences, and surveys addressed to EU projects coordinators as well as National initiatives coordinators. Based on the obtained feedback we identified two types of gaps, namely core technological gaps that involve research challenges, and “enablers”, which are not necessarily technical research challenges, but have impact on innovation progress. New socio-economic trends are presented as well as emerging legal challenges

Plan-based integration of natural language and graphics generation

Multimodal interfaces combining natural language and graphics take advantage of both the individual strength of each communication mode and the fact that several modes can be employed in parallel. The central claim of this paper is that the generation of a multimodal presentation system WIP which allows the generation of alternate presentations of the same content taking into account various contextual factors. We discuss how the plan-based approach to presentation design can be exploited so that graphics generation influences the production of text and vice versa. We show that well-known concepts from the area of natural language processing like speech acts, anaphora, and rhetorical relations take on an extended meaning in the context of multimodal communication. Finally, we discuss two detailed examples illustrating and reinforcing our theoretical claims

Adaptive hypertext and hypermedia : workshop : proceedings, 3rd, Sonthofen, Germany, July 14, 2001 and Aarhus, Denmark, August 15, 2001

This paper presents two empirical usability studies based on techniques from Human-Computer Interaction (HeI) and software engineering, which were used to elicit requirements for the design of a hypertext generation system. Here we will discuss the findings of these studies, which were used to motivate the choice of adaptivity techniques. The results showed dependencies between different ways to adapt the explanation content and the document length and formatting. Therefore, the system's architecture had to be modified to cope with this requirement. In addition, the system had to be made adaptable, in addition to being adaptive, in order to satisfy the elicited users' preferences

Adaptive hypertext and hypermedia : workshop : proceedings, 3rd, Sonthofen, Germany, July 14, 2001 and Aarhus, Denmark, August 15, 2001

This paper presents two empirical usability studies based on techniques from Human-Computer Interaction (HeI) and software engineering, which were used to elicit requirements for the design of a hypertext generation system. Here we will discuss the findings of these studies, which were used to motivate the choice of adaptivity techniques. The results showed dependencies between different ways to adapt the explanation content and the document length and formatting. Therefore, the system's architecture had to be modified to cope with this requirement. In addition, the system had to be made adaptable, in addition to being adaptive, in order to satisfy the elicited users' preferences