Smart Recommendation for an Evolving E-Learning System: Architecture and Experiment

In this article, we proposed an evolving e-learning system which can adapt itself both to the learners and to the open Web, and we pointed out the differences of making recommendations in e-learning and other domains. We propose two pedagogy features in recommendation: learner interest and background knowledge. A description of a paper's value, similarity, and ordering are presented using formal definitions. We also study two pedagogy-oriented recommendation techniques: content-based and hybrid recommendations. We argue that while it is feasible to apply both of these techniques in our domain, a hybrid collaborative filtering technique is more efficient to make "just-in-time" recommendations. In order to assess and compare these two techniques, we carried out an experiment using artificial learners. Experiment results are encouraging, showing that hybrid collaborative filtering, which can lower the computational costs, will not compromise the overall performance of the recommendation system. In addition, as more and more learners participate in the learning process, both learner and paper models can better be enhanced and updated, which is especially desirable for webbased learning systems. We have tested the recommendation mechanisms with real learners, and the results are very encouraging.