An overview of iLearn: an e-learning platform

Learning styles and how we learn is a vast research area, Busilovsky and Millan (2007) state that learning styles are typically defined as the way people prefer to learn. Examples of commonly used learning styles are Kolb Learning Styles Theory (Kolb 1985), Felder and Silverman Index of Learning Styles, VARK (Fleming 1995) and Honey and Mumford Index of Learning Styels (1992) and many research projects (SMILE, INSPIRE, iWeaver amongst others) attempt to incorporate these learning styles into adaptive e-Learning systems. These research projects offer some personalisation to the learner that many common Learning Managmeent Systems (for example Moodle and Blackboard) cannot as they tend to be limited in the amount of personalisation that they offer the learner. These Learning Management Systems are used widely and do offer a number of tools for instructors to enable them to create and manage courses, however, they do not allow for the learner to have a unique personalised learning experience. The eCentre project iLearn is an e-Learning platform that proposes to offer personalisation for the learner in a number of ways. The proposed personalistion is to provide the learner with a bespoke learning package based on their learning style and pedagogical needs. This research describes how learning styles will be used within the iLearn profile and it also describes an overview of the iLearn project and also how iLearn is using the VARK learning style to enhance the platform's personalistion and adaptability for the learner.