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has some in-built learning design, personalized
to student's identified learning style and needs.
The psycho-educational support embedded in the
learning design consists of planning support, easy
reading style, additional summaries, conceptual
maps, and study registries at the end of each unit.
In addition to this, the student receives dynamic
guidance through recommendations based both on
her preferences and performance while using the
system (e.g. marks obtained in questionnaire based
assessments, learning objects she has accessed,
use of the forums to communicate with her peers,
etc.). As an example, the table below presents a
couple of the recommendations identified with the
methodology and their mapping into the model:
◦
Responsiveness of the environment:
ability to react quickly to the require-
ments of the learners (motivate, en-
gage, inspire). To this, a recommend-
er system such as the one discussed
in this chapter should be extended to
consider further areas of motivation,
engagement and inspiration.
◦
Covering different approaches: from
individual to collaborative learning,
from desktop management to ubiqui-
tous activities, and from formal set-
tings (modules with their syllabus)
to informal learning (learning units
focused on specific skills or knowl-
edge). Although developments have
been made in the area of open and
flexible CSCL (Computer Supported
Collaborative Learning) environ-
ments (Bayon et al., 2009), a more
flexible and design-based approach
in those collaborative scenarios that
accommodate IMS-LD is needed
(CSCL Challenge, 2009). The idea
is to let the designer control the ar-
rangement of phases in the collabora-
tion and consider personalized learn-
ing paths which takes advantage of
related design issues.
OPEN ISSUES
Teaching and learning processes are bound to
undergo dramatic changes in the coming years.
In this key working area the purpose is to intro-
duce the possibility of managing the teaching and
learning processes themselves in an accessible,
personalized and standards-based way, not just
the contents to be learned. This approach entails
solving technological and management problems
that currently present significant barriers in HE
institutions, especially in distance learning uni-
versities when trying to meet individual learners'
needs. In particular, the following issues are to
be solved:
◦
Adaptive and intuitive response:
adapting to learning behaviours that
reflect relevant learners' features such
as learning styles, learners' compe-
tences and skills, preferences and spe-
cific needs, diverse functional issues,
etc. The objective of the system is to
guide the students from their initial
intuitions to the final learning path.
So far short-term issues have been
covered, such as those related to the
problems that may encounter while
learning in a particular course. There
is a wide range of problems, more re-
lated to long-term issues that are to be
•
To guarantee a personalized task based
learning approach: online courses are to be
based on modelling units of learning from
different pedagogical perspectives that can
be adapted to different types of learners
and learning situations. In this respect, it
is essential to provide learners with specif-
ic, timely feedback on their performance.
Crucial issues to be managed through that
learner-centered approach in those scenari-
os are as follows:
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