Using Knowledge Space Theory to support Learner Modeling and Personalization

A learner’s knowledge is often the key aspect towards which personalized eLearning systems attempt to adapt. However, the assessment of their knowledge usually involves tedious and time consuming questionnaires or making stereotypical assumptions about what they know. The Knowledge Space Theory (KST) [Doignon and Falmagne, 1985; Albert and Held, 1999] offers a means of efficiently and effectively determining the current knowledge of a learner. By applying this theory to the analysis and determination of a learner’s knowledge, highly configurable adaptive systems, such as APeLS [Conlan et al. 2002], can provide highly dynamic event driven personalized adaptations based on upto-date information about the learner. This paper describes the culmination of collaborative research that has been carried out by Knowledge and Data Engineering Group of Trinity College, Dublin and the Cognitive Science Section of the University of Graz under the auspices of several European Commission funded projects. ELEKTRA | Report on scientific publication © THE ELEKTRA CONSORTIUM 2006-2008 Page 5|14

[1]  Peter Brusilovsky,et al.  Methods and techniques of adaptive hypermedia , 1996, User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction.

[2]  J. Stanley,et al.  Book Review: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain , 1957 .

[3]  Dieudonné Leclercq,et al.  Validity, Reliability, and Acuity of Self-Assessment in Educational Testing , 1993 .

[4]  Jean-Claude Falmagne,et al.  Knowledge spaces , 1998 .

[5]  M. Villano,et al.  Introduction to knowledge spaces: How to build, test, and search them , 1990 .

[6]  Jean-Paul Doignon.  Knowledge Spaces and Skill Assignments , 1994 .

[7]  Jean-Claude Falmagne,et al.  Spaces for the Assessment of Knowledge , 1985, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[8]  T. Wassmer.  6 , 1900, EXILE.

[9]  Peter Brusilovsky,et al.  Web-based Parameterized Questions as a Tool for Learning , 2003 .

[10]  Vincent Wade,et al.  Just-in-time Generation of Pedagogically Sound, Context Sensitive Personalized Learning Experiences , 2006 .

[11]  Owen Conlan,et al.  Combining Adaptive Hypermedia Techniques and Ontology Reasoning to Produce Dynamic Personalized News Services , 2006, AH.

[12]  Dietrich Albert,et al.  Competence-based Knowledge Structures for Personalised Learning , 2005, ELeGI Conference.

[13]  Vincent P. Wade,et al.  Multi-model, Metadata Driven Approach to Adaptive Hypermedia Services for Personalized eLearning , 2002, AH.

[14]  Harold Gulliksen,et al.  Contributions to mathematical psychology , 1964 .

[15]  Klaus Korossy,et al.  Modeling Knowledge as Competence and Performance , 1999 .

[16]  D. Albert,et al.  Establishing knowledge spaces by systematical problem construction , 1994 .

[17]  Ivo Düntsch,et al.  Skills and knowledge structures , 1995 .