Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
cycle of service adaptation and is designed to be
applied in HE institutions. First, we introduce the
life cycle of service provision and what services
are demanded in HE institutions. Moreover, we
comment on the availability of existing sup-
port mechanisms that follow the design for all
approach, and the current insufficient support
provided by the specifications that can be comple-
mented with adaptation tasks. Next, we present
the foundations of the framework proposed,
including a description of the service-oriented
architecture to support it. Then, we comment how
this generic framework is applied in the EU4ALL
project focusing on those components where our
research is being carried out. Lastly, we discuss
how it is instantiated in the two biggest distance
universities in Europe. We focus on the UNED
scenario and how the dynamic support at runtime
can be provided with recommendations
2004), four phases can be considered to provide
accessible and inclusive services. Briefly, these
phases, which have been redefined by our research
group to accommodate the adaptive and inclusive
service provision, deal with the following issues:
Design : this phase aims at designing the
interaction with the services in order to
achieve the required objectives. This im-
plies users' requirements being met, which
means incorporating scaffolding into the
context, tasks, tools, and interface of the
system. In particular, adaptation require-
ments should be considered from the outset
and related ways to evaluate their progress
(i.e., improvements in a number of features,
such as user satisfaction and involvement,
access to learning resources, participation
in a wider range of learning activities, etc.)
Available standards and specifications can
be applied to follow the universal design
principles. When needed, the logic for pre-
design adaptations is provided (i.e. hooks
and information required by the runtime
adaptation to base its reasoning).
Publication : this phase deals with the stor-
age and management of data to be retrieved
by the different services. It covers the man-
agement of users' roles and access rights,
which are of special interest considering
the learning and privacy issues involved
(Kobsa, 2007). The usage of standards
guarantees the required interoperability.
Use :this focuses on the environment while
running the service. It deals with the de-
livery of services taking into account the
design specifications, the user profile and
the accessibility requirements by properly
adapting the user interface and by produc-
ing dynamic and contextual recommenda-
tions. Users' behaviour and interaction are
to be tracked to facilitate the auditing phase
(see below). Empirical testing or user-
based methods also take place, including
The Life Cycle of Service Provision
As introduced in the third section, e-learning
processes cannot be isolated within a particular
system, but they should be integrated with the rest
of the services provided by HE institutions. This
is critical, especially within the LLL paradigm,
where considerations for personal circumstances
and students profiles are of major importance, and
there is a need to serve a variety of ubiquitous
and informal learning scenarios. In this context
learners have specialized needs and requirements,
since their background and learning goals differ
and evolve over time, and various access prefer-
ences with respect to the device used. This is quite
relevant when considering both the increasing
number and variety of ICT services, which could
cause usability and accessibility problems, and
the interoperability required to provide many of
the functionalities.
To properly manage these services, HE insti-
tutions are to take over the life cycle of adaptive
and inclusive service provision. In the same way
as the e-learning life cycle (van Rosmalen et al.,
Search WWH ::




Custom Search