Title: How e-learning systems may benefit from ontologies and recommendation methods to efficiently personalise resources

Authors: Tania Kerkiri, Athanassios Manitsaris, Ioannis Mavridis

Addresses: Dept. of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, 54006, Thessaloniki, Greece. ' Dept. of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, 54006, Thessaloniki, Greece. ' Dept. of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, 54006, Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract: Knowledge management systems suffer from the efficient management of the information they maintain. Current e-learning systems, is an application of a progressively more complex information domain, as they increasingly enhance their courses with the variety of web based resources to meet the educational needs of their participants. Thus, they face the problem of managing and personalising this knowledge. To confront this problem they already benefited from the semantic web technologies. Ontologies, a cardinal asset towards augmenting the interoperability among web applications, anticipate the accuracy of the retrieved data by means of effective matching of the user requirements. In this paper ontologies are explored to personalising resources. The framework of an e-learning system is described and a methodology is proposed applying recommendation algorithms. Personalisation is achieved via handling related metadata of the attendants| personality and preferences, as well as, reputation metadata, thus anticipating their satisfaction and educational progress.

Keywords: knowledge management; KM; e-learning; electronic learning; semantic web; ontologies; recommendation algorithms; resource personalisation; learning styles; information systems; world wide web; internet; web application interoperability; reputation metadata; education; student preferences; student satisfaction; student progress.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2009.031229

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2009 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.347 - 370

Published online: 26 Jan 2010 *

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