Unlocking Serendipitous Learning by Means of Social Semantic Web

Serendipitous Learning is the learning process occurring when hidden connections or analogies are unexpectedly discovered, mostly during searching processes (for instance on the Web) which are typical for informal learning activities, especially accomplished at the workplace context. Moreover, serendipitous processes have high probability to occur in the contexts where learners have high autonomy, more chances to intervene in different activities and to interact with resources and people. This paper proposes an approach based on the Social Semantic Web vision to sustain and improve Serendipitous Learning. The proposed approach considers two connected ontology layers to model knowledge by using several SemanticWeb vocabularies like SIOC, Dublin Core, SKOS, and so on. The SKOS role is particularly relevant because it allows connections among heterogeneous resources, also across multiple communities. The proposed approach models the above-mentioned connections at the conceptual level and facilitate learners in discovering them and following unexpected paths.