This research is concerned with harnessing collaborative approaches for the authoring of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEH) systems. It involves the enhancement of Semantic Wikis with pedagogy aware features to this end. There are many challenges in understanding how communities of interest can efficiently collaborate for learning content authoring, in introducing pedagogy to the developed knowledge models and in specifying user models for efficient delivery of AEH systems. The contribution of this work will be the development of a model of collaborative authoring which includes domain specification, content elicitation, and definition of pedagogic approach. The proposed model will be implemented in a prototype AEH authoring system that will be tested and evaluated in a formal education context

Nurjanah, Dade

English

Southampton (e-Prints Soton)

1  Collaborative Authoring of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia by Enriching a Semantic Wiki’s Output  Dade Nurjanah  Supervisors: Hugh Davis and Thanassis Tiropanis  Learning Societies Lab Electronics and Computer Science School University of Southampton, UK dn08r@ecs.soton.ac.uk Abstract. This research is concerned with harnessing collaborative approaches for  the  authoring  of  Adaptive  Educational  Hypermedia  (AEH)  systems.  It involves the enhancement of Semantic Wikis with pedagogy aware features to this  end.  There  are  many  challenges  in  understanding  how  communities  of interest can efficiently collaborate for learning content authoring, in introducing pedagogy to the developed knowledge models and in specifying user models for efficient delivery of AEH systems. The contribution of this work will be the development  of  a  model  of  collaborative  authoring  which  includes  domain specification,  content  elicitation,  and  definition  of  pedagogic  approach.  The proposed model will be implemented in a prototype AEH authoring system that will be tested and evaluated in a formal education context. Keywords:  Adaptive  Educational  Hypermedia,  collaborative  authoring, Semantic Wikis, communities of interest. 1   Introduction Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEH) Systems provide adaptation of navigation and  presentation  of  educational  resources.  AEH  systems  envisage  navigation functionality that enables personalized access to educational resources; navigation is implemented on a hyperspace layer, which in turn relies on a knowledge space layer [1]. However, developing knowledge space is not simple and it is time consuming. In addition, courseware is usually non transferable and non reusable [2]. Some research has been done to address the problems by developing generic authoring systems, for example MOT [2-4], based on LAOS authoring model [5, 6] that can be delivered by many AEH systems like AHA! [7] and WHURLE [2, 8]. On the other hand, given that AEH systems rely on large knowledge bases and subject expertise, it would make sense to develop them collaboratively. The Adaptive Learning  Environment  (ALE),  FOSP  and  LAOS  [9,  10]  are  some  models  of collaborative authoring established in past research. The models support collaboration works on domain related knowledge for adaptive learning.  2  Nowadays, with the popularity and success of Web 2.0 and Wikis for authoring documents,  the  collaboration  paradigm  shifts  to  decentralized  authoring  by  online communities [11]. Semantic technology then extends Wikis to Semantic Wikis that are  able  to  support  ontology  engineering,  knowledge  management  and  learning environment development [12, 13]. Previous research has demonstrated the use of Wikis and Semantic Wikis in educational settings, for example Wiki for developing learning  spaces  [14],  Semantic  Wiki  for  collaborative  academic  writing  [15]  and SWIM, a Semantic Wiki for Mathematics [16]. This paper reports the early work of PhD research on developing a collaborative authoring model for the knowledge spaces of AEH systems by utilizing a Semantic Wiki. I will first discuss the problems of authoring AEH and the challenges that can be addresed by Semantic Wikis in Section 2. Section 3 will put forward the research questions that  motivate the PhD research and Section 4 will present the progress that has been made. The future work of the research will be presented in Section 5.  2   Problems of Authoring AEH Authoring AEH systems is a complex process. Brusilovsky divided authoring into three steps including structuring the knowledge space, structuring the hyperspace and connecting both spaces [1]. Other research suggested similar steps [2, 10, 17]. The First step, which concerns with structuring the knowledge space, covers the development  of  pure  domain  related  content  that  describes  the  domain  concepts, relationships  among  concepts,  and  concepts’  attributes.  The  knowledge  space construction also involves the development of a user model that is usually introduced as  an  overlay  model.  In  addition,  it  includes  authoring  pedagogic  information consisting of  learner profiles and  learning objectives. The Learning objectives are expressed in the combination of learning goals, constraints, adaptation rules and all other information relevant for delivering adaptation and personalization. The  next  steps  of  authoring,  structuring  the  hyperspace  and  connecting  it  with knowledge  space,  are  complex  processes  as  they  develop  learning  content  for  all concepts in knowledge space. They may involve developing educational content, and also  linking  concept  and  content  elements  by  applying  pedagogic  principles  to provide navigation. The links have many-to-many cardinalities, thus enabling learners to access any content element from a concept and vice versa. Content and navigation delivered  to  students  are  based  on  links,  learning  goals  and  constraints,  learners’ profile, and adaptation rules. Considering all processes described above, authoring AEH could be improved in two different ways. First, the involvement of communities in collaborative authoring of knowledge could provide for a larger volume of educational material described in community-agreed  terms.  Second,  the  enhancement  of  existing  collaborative authoring tools to support AEH knowledge space construction could allow developers to  focus  on  the  development  of  additional  features  only  instead  to  developing collaborative authoring environments from scratch. The development process could thus  focus  on  enriching  the  output  of  the  collaborative  authoring  tools  by  adding pedagogy related knowledge.  3  3   Proposed Research This  PhD  thesis  will  research  the  enhancement  of  Semantic  Wikis  to  support collaborative authoring of knowledge spaces in AEH. The objective of this research is to provide a model of organizing learning knowledge that can be adaptively reused and repurposed to support AEH. The proposed collaborative authoring environment is divided into 2 subsystems. The first one supports collaborative authoring of domain related knowledge by a community of interest using a Semantic Wiki; the general public  can  also  participate  in  content  development.  The  second  one  enhances collaborative authoring with pedagogy related knowledge by enriching the output of the first subsystem; this subsystem is intended for use by teachers. Research Questions. Listed below are the research questions that motivate this PhD research. 1.  How can users collaborate to define the elements of the knowledge domain and the relationships between them, e.g. the parts that are pre-requisite to other parts? How can a Semantic Wiki be linked to the above knowledge domain definition so that  users  can  collaborate  of  the  production  of  content?  Which  level  of granularity of content is most appropriate? 2.  From a given knowledge domain, how can different pedagogic approaches be defined?   Are  there  barriers  that  prevent  teachers  from  collaborating  and  agreeing pedagogical approaches for authoring AEH?   Can  such  a  system  be  compatible  with  current  standards?  (IMS  Simple Sequencing, IMS Learning Design or other?) 3.  How  can  we  implement  personalized  delivery  of  learning  resources  in  AEH taking pedagogy into account? Can such pedagogy related knowledge grafted to standard delivery technologies?  Challenges.  There are certain challenges in the research motivated by the above questions:   1.  Specifying knowledge space elements. The challenge here is on identifying the elements of the domain and pedagogy related  knowledge  space  for  AEH  and  on  investigating  pedagogic  aspects  of learning personalization.  2.  Pedagogy in knowledge representation and reasoning. The  challenge  is  on  designing  the  mechanisms  for  pedagogically  meaningful knowledge  representation  and  reasoning  in  a  number  of  domain.  Knowledge representation  must  deal  with  the  evolving  knowledge  and  content.  Another challenge  is  on  designing  adaptive  rules  that  are  grafted  to  standard  delivery technologies if possible. 3.  Managing communities of interest. The  challenge  is  on  developing  and  managing  communities  of  interest  by applying  some  mechanisms  of  coordination,  negotiation  and  control  on  the collaborative authoring activities. 4  Novelty. The novelty of this research is on the enrichment of existing Semantic Wikis for collaborative authoring of knowledge and content for AEH. The participation of communities  of  interest,  teachers  and  general  public  is  another  novelty  of  this research.  4   Research Approach and Progress This work started with an outline of the model of collaborative AEH authoring using Semantic Wikis. The general structure of the knowledge space, contributors and roles is shown in Figure 1. One of the contributors is Communities of Interest which consist of people who are experts on or interested in the subject. They develop the domain related  knowledge  and  content.  Other  users  are  public  society  and  teachers.  The former  can  contribute  in  developing  learning  content  and  the  latter  can  generate pedagogy related knowledge. Community of InterestPublic SocietyTeachersConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptDocument Document Document DocumentDomain related knowledgeConcept-competenceConcept-competenceConcept-competenceConcept-competenceConcept-competenceConcept-competenceConcept-competence Domain + Pedagogic related knowledge (Goal and Sequence)Pedagogic related knowledge (Constraints, Adaptation Rules)Adaptation ruleAdaptation ruleAdaptation ruleAdaptation ruleGOALGOALSemantic Wiki’soutput Fig. 1. General Architecture of Proposed System.  The proposed design of the domain and pedagogy related knowledge is based on past research including Brusilovsky’s word [1], the AHAM model [6, 18, 19] and other AEH systems like ISIS Tutor [20], AHA! [6, 21, 22] and WHURLE [8].  I propose the domain related knowledge consists of the following elements: 1.  Concepts. They represent the topics of the subject. 2.  Competences. They express the levels of expertise levels that students can gain. There  are  many  competence  theories  including  Bloom’s  theory  that  divides 5  competences  into  6  levels:  knowledge,  comprehension,  application,  analysis, synthesis and evaluation [23].  3.  Content;  representation  of  learning  materials.  It  can  be  in  one  form  of explanation, case study, experiment result, survey data, and the like.  4.  Goals. They express learning outcomes. 5.  Relationships; consisting relationships between concepts and content, and also between 2 concepts.  All elements mentioned above will be developed as an enhanced on a Semantic Wiki  and  then  enriched  with  pedagogy  related  knowledge  consisting  of  learning paths, adaptation rules, constraints, and learning styles. A student model is grafted in this model in order to support personalization of learning. The user model will be expressed as a stereotype  model combined  with  the  overlay  map of concepts and competences.  Currently,  I  am  still  refining  and  evaluating  the  knowledge  model,  and  also investigating  the  ways  communities  and  teachers  can  collaboratively  develop  the pedagogy  related  knowledge.  Collaborative  authoring  is  not  a  simple  task  as  it involves many aspects known as Kling’s c-words [24]. As a next step I intend to investigate  implementation  technologies  including  Semantic  Wikis.  The  final  step will bring all outputs from the former steps together and build a prototype that will enable experimentation, testing and evaluation.   5   Conclusion and Expected Feedback This paper details the early work of my PhD research. The idea is utilizing Semantic Wikis for collaborative authoring of knowledge spaces for AEH. This research aims to  support  personalized  learning  delivered  in  AEH.  Feedback  is  sought  on  the following issues: 1.  Comprehensiveness  and  soundness  of  the  architecture  and  of  the  knowledge elements of the proposed system as detailed in Section 4.  2.  Managing  collaborative  authoring  processes  involving  a  number  of  roles  as illustrated in Section 4.  3.  Testing. What are the most efficient ways to present learners with personalized access? Sufficient systems will need to be harnessed in order to ensure that the collaborative efforts that teachers make may be delivered to learners.   References 1.  Brusilovsky,  P.  Developing  adaptive  educational  hypermedia  systems:  From  design models  to  authoring  tools.  in  Authoring  Tools  for  Advanced  Technology  Learning Environment. 2003. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2.  Stewart, C., A. Cristea, and T.J. Brailsford, Authoring Once, Delivering Many: Creating Reusable Adaptive Courseware, in 4th IAESTED International Conference on Web Based Education (WBE '05). 2005: Grindewald, Switzerland. 3.  Cristea, A., Adaptive Course Authoring: my Online Teacher, in Faculty Mathematics and Computer Science, TU Eindhoven. 2003. 6  4.  Ghali, F., et al., Collaborative Adaptation Authoring and Social Annotation in MOT. 2008, Warwick Postgraduate Colloquium in Computer Science. 5.  Cristea,  A.  and  A.D.  Mooij,  LAOS:  Layered  WWW  AHS  Authoring  Model  and  their corresponding Algebraic Operators, in WWW 2003. 2003, ACM Budapest, Hungary. 6.  Weibel, N., Towards Adaptive Hypermedia Authoring from the Dexter Model to Laos. 2006: Institute for Information Systems, ETH Zurich. 7.  Cristea, A., D. Smits, and P. de Bra, Writing MOT, Reading AHA! - converting between an authoring and a delivery system for adaptive educational hypermedia-. 2005: Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology. 8.  Meccawy, M., et al., WHURLE 2.0: Adaptive Learning Meets Web 2.0, in Third European  European  Conference  on  Technology  Enhanced  Learning.  2008,  Springer:  Maastricht, The Netherlands. 9.  Dolog, P.,  et  al.,  Specification, Authoring  and  Prototyping  of  Personalised  Workplace Learning Solutions International Journal Learning Technology, 2007. 3(3): p. 286-308. 10.  Kravcik,  M.  and  M.  Specht,  Authoring  Adaptive  Courses:  ALE  Approach.  Advanced Technology for Learning, 2004 Vol. 1, No. 4. 11.  Yuan, F., et al. A Web-based collaborative authoring system for Web educational material with high reusability. in Active Media Technology, 2005. (AMT 2005). Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on. 2005. 12.  Schaffert,  S.  IkeWiki:  A  Semantic  Wiki  for  Collaborative  Knowledge  Management.  in Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, 2006. WETICE '06. 15th IEEE International Workshops on. 2006. 13.  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Collaborative Authoring of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia by Enriching a Semantic Wiki’s Output

Collaborative Authoring of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia by Enriching a Semantic Wiki’s Output

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