Knowledge-Based Virtual Education

275 Pages·2005·4.23 MB·English

by  M. A. Rentroia-Bonito, J. Tribolet, J. A. Jorge (auth.), Mitu Jain, Vivek Bannore, Lakhmi C. Jain (eds.)

Claude Ghaoui, Mitu Jain, Vivek Bannore, Lakhmi C. Jain (Eds.)
Knowledge-Based Virtual Education
Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, Volume 178
Editor-in-chief
Prof. Janusz Kacprzyk
Systems Research Institute
Polish Academy of Sciences
ul. Newelska 6
01-447 Warsaw
Poland
E-mail:
Claude Ghaoui
Mitu Jain
Vivek Bannore
Lakhmi C. Jain (Eds.)
Knowledge-Based
Virtual Education
User-Centred Paradigms
BA C
Claude Ghaoui Vivek Bannore
Liverpool John Moores University Convergeys India Services Pvt. Ltd.
School of Computing Cisco Systems Incorporated
and Mathematical Sciences Guragaon
Byrom Street Haryana
Liverpool, L3 3AF India
United Kingdom
Mitu Jain Lakhmi C. Jain
Vcustomer India Pvt. Ltd. University of South Australia
Netgear Incorporated School of Electrical & Info Engineering
New Delhi Knowledge-Based Intelligent Engineering
India Mawson Lakes Campus
Adelaide SA 5095
Australia
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005921891
ISSN print edition: 1434-9922
ISSN electronic edition: 1860-0808
ISBN-10 3-540-25045-X Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
ISBN-13 978-3-540-25045-6 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
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Foreword
Preparing Society for Virtual Learning
in the 21st Century
Virtual learning plays an important role in providing academicians, educators
and students alike, with advanced learning experiences. At the forefront of
these current technologies are knowledge-based systems that assess the en-
vironment in which such learning will occur and are adaptive by nature to
the individual needs of the user (Grossman et al., 2003). The extent that
the learner will benefit from such technology will depend on the educational
setting that this service is provided.
In a number of traditional school settings, the primary channel of knowl-
edge is through the classroom teacher. Virtual learning then plays more the
role of Supplemental Instruction (SI), helping the student further explore
the material and/or review the concepts already covered in class (Taksa and
Goldberg, 2004). Yet, even at this level of education, there are two alternative
settings that would demand that the source of primary education be provided
virtually: 1) in rural (Reed, 2004) or international (Couchman, 1999) settings
where resources are not as plentiful and training for qualified educators is
not readily available; 2) in home-schooling in the United States which is on a
steady rise (Princiotta et al., 2004).
In conjunction with the 2000 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau conducted
a Current Population Survey (CPS) of a sample population of families across
America with regards to Home Computers and Internet Use. The results
showed a marked increase from that of a similar 1997 survey. The data pre-
sented here is rounded off so that trends are more easily understood; for the
precise numbers, consult the reference for detailed tables. Some highlights of
this data include the following items: 90% of all elementary and secondary
school children had access to a computer, although only 80% showed signifi-
cant computer usage in school. At home, 51% of households reported owning
a computer overall, but within economic groups, this statistic varied from 30%
VI Foreword
to 90% depending on household income. While computer and Internet access
at school was equal across economic and ethnic groups, there was approxi-
mately 30% less access to computers at home for minority population groups.
(Newburger, 2001).
The relationship of the above census data to the development of knowledge-
based virtual learning is straightforward. Governments have a moral and social
obligation to ensure equal access of education to all of its groups of citizens.
As this research is successfully applied to intelligent tutoring systems, gov-
ernments will become more obligated to ensure equal access to computers
and internet usage, both in school and at home, which will then broaden the
impact of the research and help create a more educated and equal society.
Another situation in which there is a growing need for knowledge to be pro-
vided virtually is that of job training and career advancement (Schank, 1997).
Many companies encourage their workers to learn advanced techniques that
will improve their performance on the job; these companies will even accom-
modate employees’ schedules to accomplish this, but do not necessarily have
the funds to hire professional trainers and as such, rely on knowledge-based
systems to perform these educational functions. However, as the economy
gets tighter and skills required are specialized, management will “buy” (hire)
ready-made labor from outside the company rather than “make” (educate)
labor from within. (Meares and Sargent, Jr., 1999).
Efforts are being made to train workers in a virtual environment. Funded
in part by the University of Texas, a virtual learning program EnterTech
simulates a realistic work environment with virtual co-workers, a supervisor,
and human resources (Dean, 2000). This course can be accessed online over
the Internet or offline by using CD-ROMs. The program targets entry-level
positions in industrial and technology-based settings and trains individuals
for the proper handling of materials, efficient warehousing, and clerical tasks
such as answering phones. The course has both individual and collaborative
components to complement the training. An ambitious program that provides
free virtual job training to all of its citizens is the Technical and Further
Education (TAFE) system of Victoria, Australia. One of its courses aims
to enable individuals to obtain the International Computer Driving Licence
(ICDL), a computer literacy standard endorsed by the Australian Computer
Society (Pace, 2001).
The educational scenerios presented here underscore the importance of the
present volume of research, “Innovations in Knowledge-Based Virtual Educa-
tion.” This compendium under the editorship of L.C. Jain and C. Ghaoui
brings together leading researchers in the field, addressing the plethora of
issues involved in advanced learning technologies. Lakhmi Jain is an expert
in knowledge-based systems and is the Co-Director Web Intelligence Consor-
tium (WIC) Australia Centre and Professor of Knowledge-Based Engineering
at the University of South Australia. Claude Ghaoui is a Senior Lecturer at
the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Liverpool John Moores
University and has published and edited numerous works on e-education and
Foreword VII
is the editor of the Encyclopedia of Human Computer interaction (Information
Science Publishing, USA; ISBN: 1-59140-562-9).
This work comes at a critical moment of educational development, as the
world goes online and communication between all people is fostered at an
ever-increasing rate. It is the hopes of this author that educators and leaders
worldwide will utilize the technologies developed in this book to provide people
with proper education and training.
Robert Goldberg
Professor
Queens College,
Flushing, NY 11367 USA
References
1. Couchman, J. A. (1999). Distance PALS in real and virtual classes. In Pro-
ceedings of the First National Conference on Supplemental Instruction and
Video-based Supplemental Instruction (pp. 32–46). Kansas City, MO: Center
for Supplemental Instruction, University of Missouri-Kansas City.
2. Dean, K. (2000). Virtual Training for Real Jobs. Wired News, March 22, 2000.
Accessed from http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,33897,00.html.
3. Grossman, L. K., Minow, N. N. and Murphy A. G. (2003). Creating The Digital
Opportunity Investment Trust (DOIT), A Proposal to Transform Learning and
Training for the 21st Century. A Report to The Congress of The United States.
Accessed from http://www.digitalpromise.org/about/report to congress/
Executive Summary.pdf. Detailed tables can be accessed from
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/computer/ppl-175.html.
4. Meares, C. A. and Sargent, Jr. J. F. (1999). The Digital Work Force: Building
Infotech Skills at the Speed of Innovation. US Department of Commerce, Office
of Technology Policy, July 1999.
5. Newburger, E. (2001). Home Computers and Internet Use in the United
States: August 2000. U.S. Census Bureau Report P23–207. Accessed from
http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p23-207.pdf.
6. Pace, B. (2001). DEET/TAFE Virtual Campus. DMR Consulting Review,
March 2001. Accessed from http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/pdfs/DEET 2.pdf.
7. Princiotta, D., Bielick, S. and Chapman, C. (2004). 1.1 Million Homeschooled
Students in the United States in 2003. National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES) Report #2004–115.
8. Reed, B. (2004). Providing Supplemental Services to Rural
Schools. In NWREL Report: January-February 2004. Accessed from
http://www.nwrel. org/nwreport/2004-01/Jan-Feb04.pdf.
9. Schank, Roger. (1997). Virtual Learning: A Revolutionary Approach to Building
a Highly Skilled Workforce. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
10. Taksa, I. and Goldberg, R. R. (2004). Web-Delivered Supplemental Instruction:
Dynamic Customizing Of Search Algorithms To Enhance Independent Learning
For Developmental Mathematics Students. Mathematics and Computer Educa-
tion Journal, Vol. 38(2), pp. 152–164.
Preface
The consideration of people with diverse needs and requirements must be taken
seriously in order to provide innovative offerings in education. This can be
achieved by employing solutions that are smart technologically and also sensitive
to users’/human needs (i.e. user-centred). Widening access requires reducing
disabling conditions under which users of education work.
Motivated by this challenge, the book provides various innovative approaches and
principles that can be employed to further advance developments in educational
technology, specially ‘virtual education’ (also known as online- or e-learning). In
pursuing this motivation, the book promotes the continuous need to push for
technology that serves people better. This requires innovative solutions that place
users at the centre of concern and that can adapt to support many different groups
of users; an issue, which unfortunately is still overlooked in most of the
commercial systems, research and developments in this field.
The primary objective of this book is to provide a wide range of innovative
approaches that can benefit various stakeholders (as users) of virtual education. In
order for such approaches to succeed, the need to take multi-disciplinary and/or
inter-disciplinary approaches is emphasized and followed by the authors. In doing
so, the book fills-in a gap in this area, which is particularly invaluable to
practitioners. The book is aimed at researchers and practitioners from academia,
industry, and government, for an in-depth coverage of a broad range of issues,
ideas and practical experiences on this subject. It also aims to raise more
awareness in this important subject, promote good practice, share and evaluate
experiences and lessons learnt.
This book includes 9 chapters. The following presents a brief overview of each
chapter:
Chapter 1: Just-in-Time Approach to Learning: Arguing the Case for Cost-
Effective Knowledge Dissemination, by M. A. Rentroia-Bonito, J. Tribolet, J. A. Jorge
and C.Ghaoui. In order to provide e-learning that is timely and cost-effective, this
chapter argues the need for taking a holistic approach from different perspectives:
organisations, business, people and systems. It presents a possible framework to
help achieve this goal, and assesses its usability for future improvements.
Chapter 2: P-Dinamet: A Web-Based Adaptive Learning System to Assist
Learners and Teachers, by Miguel Montero1 and Elena Gaudioso2. This chapter
presents P-Dinamet, a web-based educational system and the pedagogical model
behind it, that can adapt to both teachers and learners, using knowledge acquired
about these users. It describes the mechanism followed to make the system
adaptable.
X
Chapter 3: Intelligent Agents that Learn to Deliver Online Materials to Students
Better: Agent Design, Simulation and Assumptions, by Leen-Kiat Soh, Todd
Blank, and Lee Dee Miler. This chapter discusses an integrated framework of
case-based learning (CBL) in an intelligent agent that can deliver learning material
to students. The agent’s reasoning is based on its learning of various
cases/problems faced. A simulation that was built to test the agent’s learning
behaviour is discussed in the chapter.
Chapter 4: Intelligent Web-Based Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning,
by Vladan Devedzic. This chapter provides an overview of issues in computer-
supported collaborative learning (CSCL), in relation to intelligent web-based
learning and their evaluation. It addresses modern techniques for this purpose, e.g.
web mining and intelligent agents.
Chapter 5: Using Multiagent Intelligence to Support Synchronous and
Asynchronous Learning, by Xuesong Zhang, Leen-Kiat Soh, Hong Jiang, and Xuli
Liu. This chapter describes a system called I-MINDS, an innovative multi-agent
system to support synchronous and asynchronous cooperative learning, both in a
real classroom situation and in distance education. The chapter discusses different
aspects of the system’s design and evaluation, and gives some useful insights.
Chapter 6: Intelligent Agents to Improve Adaptivity in a Web-Based Learning
Environment., by C. I. Peña1, J. L. Marzo2, and J. Ll. de la Rosa2. This chapter
focuses on the use of intelligent agents to support specially online life-long
learners. It uses a multi-agent architecture called MASPLANG, which is adaptable,
by its ability to build a hybrid student model, starting with knowledge about
learning styles of the students, which then gradually modifies this knowledge
when more learning about the students is acquired from his/her interactions.
Chapter 7: Intelligent Virtual Teaching, by Goran Simic, Dragan Gasevic, Zoran
Jeremic, Vladan Devedzic. This chapter discusses the main characteristics of
intelligent learning management systems (ILMS) and identifies their shortcomings
and advantages. It also describes as an example of such systems, a semantic web
enabled system, called Multi-tutor, and discusses how using semantic web
technology could benefit e-learning.
Chapter 8: Developing a user-centred model for creating a virtual learning
portfolio by M.Verhaart and Dr Kinshuk. This chapter discusses a personal
content management framework, called ‘Me’, that gives individuals the ability to
create a personal electronic portfolio of their knowledge, based on various sources,
like: instruction, research, discussions, experience, insights, feedback, etc. The
chapter describes two models (called ‘Sniplet’ and ‘Multimedia Object’), upon
which content in ‘Me’ is structured. It also overviews prototypes implemented to
test this framework, and assesses the findings.