OASEARCH: Modelo de aplicación basado en web semántica para la búsqueda de objetos de aprendizaje mediante perfilado de consultas

Uno de los aspectos que determina la calidad de un Sistema Educativo Basado en la Web es la manera en que este proporciona a los estudiantes los objetos de aprendizaje que mejor se adaptan a sus condiciones específicas -- Es por lo anterior que se hace necesario contar con mecanismos de búsqueda para estos objetos que puedan ser usados fácilmente por la aplicación o por los usuarios de la misma y que entreguen los resultados más relevantes posibles en un contexto determinado -- Múltiples mecanismos se han propuesto para la búsqueda de recursos digitales en la web -- El enfoque fundamental de recuperación de la información ha sido utilizado por muchos años con bastante éxito pero con el advenimiento de las tecnologías que componen lo que se conoce como La Web Semántica es posible definir nuevas representaciones para los datos que permiten obtener una mayor precisión y relevancia de los resultados obtenidos -- El presente documento presenta un nuevo enfoque para la construcción de motores de búsqueda para objetos de aprendizaje basado en La Web Semántica que se apoya en la definición previa o perfilado de consultas de una manera desacoplada de la aplicación -- Con este enfoque es posible construir Conceptos de Búsqueda que son especificados en una Ontología de Dominio de tal manera que luego puede ser utilizada por la aplicación para entregar sus resultados en un entorno distribuido de repositorios RDF que se basen en el estándar LOM para la descripción de metadato

Ontology-based personalisation of e-learning resources for disabled students

Students with disabilities are often expected to use e-learning systems to access learning materials but most systems do not provide appropriate adaptation or personalisation to meet their needs.The difficulties related to inadaptability of current learning environments can now be resolved using semantic web technologies such as web ontologies which have been successfully used to drive e-learning personalisation. Nevertheless, e-learning personalisation for students with disabilities has mainly targeted those with single disabilities such as dyslexia or visual impairment, often neglecting those with multiple disabilities due to the difficulty of designing for a combination of disabilities.This thesis argues that it is possible to personalise learning materials for learners with disabilities, including those with multiple disabilities. This is achieved by developing a model that allows the learning environment to present the student with learning materials in suitable formats while considering their disability and learning needs through an ontology-driven and disability-aware personalised e-learning system model (ONTODAPS). A disability ontology known as the Abilities and Disabilities Ontology for Online LEarning and Services (ADOOLES) is developed and used to drive this model. To test the above hypothesis, some case studies are employed to show how the model functions for various individuals with and without disabilities and then the implemented visual interface is experimentally evaluated by eighteen students with disabilities and heuristically by ten lecturers. The results are collected and statistically analysed.The results obtained confirm the above hypothesis and suggest that ONTODAPS can be effectively employed to personalise learning and to manage learning resources. The student participants found that ONTODAPS could aid their learning experience and all agreed that they would like to use this functionality in an existing learning environment. The results also suggest that ONTODAPS provides a platform where students with disabilities can have equivalent learning experience with their peers without disabilities. For the results to be generalised, this study could be extended through further experiments with more diverse groups of students with disabilities and across multiple educational institutions