Title: Shaping online learning communities and the way adaptiveness adds to the picture

Authors: Penelope Markellou, Maria Rigou, Athanasios Tsakalidis, Spiros Sirmakessis

Addresses: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, 26504 Patras and Research Academic Computer Technology Institute, 61 Riga Feraiou Street, 26221 Patras, Greece. ' Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, 26504 Patras and Research Academic Computer Technology Institute, 61 Riga Feraiou Street, 26221 Patras, Greece. ' Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, 26504 Patras and Research Academic Computer Technology Institute, 61 Riga Feraiou Street, 26221 Patras, Greece. ' Technological Educational Institution of Messolongi, Department of Applied Informatics in Administration and Economics,30200 Messolongi and Research Academic Computer Technology Institute, 61 Riga Feraiou Street, 26221 Patras, Greece

Abstract: With learning being a process closely connected to sociability, learning on the web is in many cases accompanied and promoted by the creation and maintenance of online communities. Even though today|s web-based learning environments have drastically evolved and now incorporate techniques from other domains and application areas (such as web mining, AI, user modelling, and profiling), setting up a successful online learning community is not a trivial task. Experience has indicated that the road from assuring all technical prerequisites to having people participating and keeping the community ||alive||, is long and winding. This paper argues that by monitoring the behaviour of community members, their expertise, skills, opinions and/or preferences and requirements and by applying certain adaptation mechanisms, the experience and effectiveness of online learning can be significantly improved.

Keywords: online communities; adaptiveness; personalisation; learning communities; topic recommendations; web mining; association rules; ontologies; web-based communities; e-learning; online learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2005.006252

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2005 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.80 - 95

Published online: 09 Feb 2005 *

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