Using learning styles for dynamic group formation in adaptive collaborative hypermedia systems

Collaborative tools have been used in educational contexts for supporting communication and collaboration among students, discussions about topics, cooperative problem resolution, knowledge sharing and collaborative knowledge construction. A proper use of these tools reduces student isolation in web-based courses and facilitates the development of personal and social skills. At the same time, it is generally assented that learning styles are the preferences of students regarding to how they learn. It is desirable that a web-based instructional system includes information about the student learning style to optimally adapt the whole course to the individual characteristics of the students. Due to the benefits of the use of learning styles in adaptive hypermedia systems and the benefits of collaboration, we propose the use of learning styles to automatically adapt collaborative activities in web-based systems. Learning styles can be taken into account by proposing or discouraging collaborative activities, grouping students and choosing the most suitable statement of the problem and collaborative tools for each group of students.The Spanish Interdepartmental Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT), project number TIC2001-0685-C02-01, has sponsored this work

Incorporating learning styles into the user model

In this paper, we show the main definitions of learning styles, and a summary of the opinions about the efficacy of learning styles. In addition, this paper explores the application of the Felder-Silverman learning style model to adaptive training courses delivered via the “World Wide Web”. Due to the newness of the Web, its features, benefits, limitations and requirements as a delivery medium for distance learning are largely unstudied and unverified. This paper presents an attempt to incorporate learning styles in adaptive web-based systems and links it to the larger context of web-based education. In sum, this piece of research offers new ideas concerning an Adaptive We-based Education system, which includes the extraction of student’s learning styles preferences and then modifying the course presentation. We have implemented a prototype that adapts the course structure to the student learning style. We suggest the application of the results of the ILS questionnaire to automatically adapt some dimensions of the Felder-Silverman model to the course content and structure. The underlying idea of adaptive hypermedia based on learning styles is quite simple: adapt the presentation of course material so that it is more conductive to each student learning the course. This tailoring should allow for student learning in the shortest possible period of time. This approach has the effect of removing the impact of the instructor’s learning and eaching style and allowing the student to see the material through the clear lenses of his own perspective and learning style.The Spanish Interdepartmental Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT), project number TIC2001-0685-C02-01, has sponsored this work

Considering learning styles in adaptative web-based education

This paper shows a way of using some dimensions of learning styles of students in order to improve the efficiency of adaptive learning systems. Firstly, it reviews the literature and previous work related to the taxonomy of learning styles and its application to web-based education. Later, it introduces the Felder-Silverman learning style model and the procedure of extracting information about students’ learning styles from the Felder-Soloman ILS questionnaire. Then, it presents a mechanism of application of these dimensions to content sequencing. The example used to explain the adaptation effects is taken from a course developed with TANGOW, Task-based Adaptive learNer Guidance On the Web.This work has been sponsored by the Spanish Interdepartmental Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT), project numbers TEL1999-0181 and TIC2001-0685-C02-01

Una propuesta de incorporación de los estilos de aprendizaje a los modelos de usuario en sistemas de enseñanza adaptativos

Tesis doctoral inédita. Univesidad Autónoma de Madrid. Escuela Politécnica Superior, octubre de 200

A method for supporting heterogeneous-group formation through heuristics and visualization

Group formation is a key issue in e-learning environments that make use of collaborative work to enhance student performance. While there are many ways to arrange students to work in cooperative groups, recent works have shown that learning styles offer good opportunities to organize students. Particularly, it seems the case that regarding learning styles, heterogeneous groups tend to perform better than groups formed by students with similar characteristics. This work addresses the issue of supporting the authors’ task of forming effective learner groups to improve student and group performance. This support is provided through a supervised method which, backed by a visualization tool, is able to produce groups with a good level of heterogeneity. Moreover, this method is not time-consuming for teachers.This project has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (TIN2007-64718) and Comunidad Autonoma de Madrid (S2009/TIC-1650)

An adaptive hierarchical questionnaire based on the Index of Learning Styles

Proceedings of the Sixth International Workshop on Authoring of Adaptive and Adaptable HypermediaOne of the main concerns when providing learning style adaptation in Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems is the number of questions the students have to answer. With respect to learning styles, it is possible to decrease the number of versions taking into account the general tendency of the student and not the specific score obtained in each dimension. In this paper we present a new approach to reduce the number of questions of Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire based on Felder-Silverman’s Learning Style Model (FSLSM). The results obtained in a case study with 330 students are very promising. It was possible to predict students’ learning styles with high accuracy and only a few questions.This work is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, TIN2007-6471

The impact of learning styles on student grouping for collaborative learning: a case study

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11257-006-9012-7Learning style models constitute a valuable tool for improving individual learning by the use of adaptation techniques based on them. In this paper, we present how the benefit of considering learning styles with adaptation purposes, as part of the user model, can be extended to the context of collaborative learning as a key feature for group formation. We explore the effects that the combination of students with different learning styles in specific groups may have in the final results of the tasks accomplished by them collaboratively. With this aim, a case study with 166 students of computer science has been carried out, from which conclusions are drawn. We also describe how an existing web-based system can take advantage of learning style information in order to form more productive groups. Our ongoing work concerning the automatic extraction of grouping rules starting from data about previous interactions within the system is also outlined. Finally, we present our challenges, related to the continuous improvement of collaboration by the use and dynamic modification of automatic grouping rules.This project has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, TIN2004-03140

Authoring and dynamic generation of adaptive e-courses

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27834-4_93Proceedings of the 4th International Conference, ICWE 2004, Munich, Germany, July 26-30, 2004.Adaptive hypermedia constitutes a pretty rich resource for developing web-based courses. With the aim of dynamically generating adaptive e-courses, we have developed the TANGOW system which, starting from the course components and their adaptation capabilities (specified independently and out of the adaptation engine), generates different courses for students with different profiles, supporting several adaptation strategies. An integral part of any adaptive hypermedia system is the set of authoring tools to specify the course components and their adaptation capabilities. Without adequate tool support, authors may feel that it is “not worth the effort” to add adaptation to their courses. However, the development of this type of tools is not an easy task. The main goal of our authoring and visualization tools is to provide a simple interface to create such courses. This demo would demonstrate i) the dynamic generation of tailored e-courses that include individual and collaborative activities and ii) the use of authoring tools for the creation of such courses

The application of learning styles in both individual and collaborative learning

Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, ICALT 2006Reprinted from (relevant publication info). This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid’s's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected] the goal of applying learning styles in both individual and collaborative learning, some adaptation mechanisms have been developed. These mechanisms try to improve the process of learning by matching the teaching style with the student’s learning style and by grouping students in some specific ways. We use the Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model and its Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire in order to classify students depending on their preferences on four dimensions (active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and sequential/global). The benefits of learning styles can be of interest for adaptive hypermedia learning systems in both individual and collaborative activities, especially if they support automatic grouping of users. From the results obtained by a case study with students of Computer Science in a collaborative task it can be concluded that some dimensions of the learning style model seem to affect the quality of the resulting work. With this aim, new grouping rules have been incorporated in the TANGOW/WOTAN system to be used in the corresponding courses.This project has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, TIN2004-03140

Una propuesta de incorporación de los estilos de aprendizaje a los modelos de usuario en sistemas de enseñanza adaptativos

Esta investigación está motivada por teorías educativas que sostienen que proporcionar cursos que se adapten al estilo propio de aprendizaje hace que los estudiantes aprendan de forma más fácil y, por lo tanto, mejore el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje. La propuesta se centra en la incorporación de los estilos de aprendizaje al modelo de usuario en un sistema hipermedia adaptativo, de acuerdo con el modelo de Felder-Silverman. En la fase de inicialización del modelo, este trabajo propone el uso de un cuestionario adaptativo, basado en el cuestionario Index of Learning Styles, para la identificación del estilo de aprendizaje del estudiante. Además se proponen métodos de inferencia para actualizar ese modelo basándose en el comportamiento y las acciones del estudiante. Se ha llevado a cabo la implementación de la adaptación basada en el estilo de aprendizaje del estudiante en TANGOW (Task-based Adaptive learNer Guidance On the Web), un sistema hipermedia adaptativo. Por otra parte, se han realizado investigaciones para determinar el impacto de los estilos de aprendizaje en el trabajo colaborativo. De las conclusiones extraídas se ha desarrollado una agrupación y se ha implementado una herramienta de agrupación supervisada llamada TOGETHER, que facilita la visualización de los resultados de agrupamiento y la modificación de algunos parámetros para obtener el resultado deseado. La evaluación de TOGETHER muestra que los estudiantes agrupados con ella obtuvieron mejores resultados. Concretamente los grupos formados por TOGETHER respondieron correctamente a 1.25 preguntas más, de un total de 10, que los otros grupos. Asimismo, TOGETHER ha sido utilizado directamente por un grupo de profesores con el objetivo de recabar su opinión sobre la utilidad de la misma para el agrupamiento supervisado.MadridUniversidad Autónoma Madrid. Escuela Politécnica Superior. Biblioteca; C/ Francisco Tomás y Valiente 11; 28049 Madrid; +34914972314; +34914972317; [email protected]