An adaptive e-learning platform based on learning

styles
Polychronis Chatzoglou (1204092)
polychronis.chatzoglou.13@um.edu.mt
Abstract This paper aims at
discussing the design of an adaptive e-
learning system based on the most
popular theories of learning styles.
Ultimately, the system at hand is expected
to be able to detect the learning style of
each individual student as well as provide
the student with suitable materials based
on this detection.
I. INT!"#$TI!N
Theories of learning styles have been
%idely used in the assessment of educational
strategies for &uite a %hile. It is therefore
rather unfortunate that they have been largely
neglected in discussions of e-learning' %hich
is increasingly being used given the means
that are no% available to the public (e.g.
cheap hard%are' cheap internet access' etc).
In this respect' different information
databases approach learners in different and
sometimes even radically opposing %ays* for
e+ample' the ,icrosoft !ffice %eb-based
help center offers information primarily by
means of long te+t passages %hile the online
soft%are tutorial platform lynda.com relies
almost e+clusively on videos. $learly' each
learning techni&ue comes %ith its o%n
merits' but stic-ing to only one means may
ma-e the learning e+perience monotonous
and' as a result' not as effective.
The purpose of this brief paper is to
assess this situation %ith a vie% to see
%hether adaptive online systems that identify
each student.s preferred learning strategy and
ad/ust the materials available to him0her
accordingly is a viable and useful %ay of
helping students to learn easier. although the
various table te+t styles are provided.
II. 12ANIN3 4T5124
6hen it comes to learning' each
individual can be considered uni&ue and
ma-e use of different strategies to achieve
-no%ledge. Theories of learning styles aim at
enhancing the individual.s learning
e+perience by identifying different categories
on the basis of different learning strategies
that individuals ma-e use of.
As the commonly cited 1earning 4tyles
portal suggests (7!vervie% of 1earning
4tyles8' 9:1;)' learners can be roughly
grouped into seven learning styles<
= >isual (spatial) learners' %ho learn
best through the use of visual materials.
= Aural (auditory-musical) learners'
%ho learn best by listening to the relevant
information.
= >erbal (linguistic) learners' %ho are
more at ease %hen discussing %hat they are
learning' either in spo-en or in %ritten form.
= ?hysical (-inesthetic) learners' %ho
learn best %hen they use their body and
senses.
= 1ogical (mathematical) learners'
%ho are motivated more by the reasoning
behind a ne% piece of information and its
logic.
1
= 4ocial (interpersonal) learners' %ho
learn best %hen interacting %ith other people
= 4olitary (intrapersonal) learners' %ho
prefer to %or- alone.
Naturally' as 3ila-/ani and Ahmadi
(9:11) mention these are not meant to be
thought of as absolute categories that
learners fall in' since individuals can
typically belong to more than one of them
and e+hibit preferences to mi+ed learning
strategies. This is one of the reasons that
research in the area has tended to focus on
the distinction bet%een visual' auditory and
-inaesthetic learners' leaving other categories
aside* and this is something that %ill also be
follo%ed here for ease of e+position. 6ith
this in mind and follo%ing on 3ila-/ani and
Ahmadi.s paper it is noted (9:11<;@:) during
the revie% of previous surveys in the area
that the larger proportion of school age
children seems to have a preference for
visual or auditory materials %ith a smaller
number of them being more motivated by
more hands-on -inaesthetic ones.
egardless of these numbers' ho%ever'
identifying the learning tendencies of the
individual can be very important in
facilitating his0her learning e+perience. As
?ourhossein 3ila-/ani and ,asoumeh
Ahmadi further discuss (9:11<;@1)' the
individual learner can ta-e advantage of
-no%ing %hat -ind of learning styles s0he is
more -een on and become more independent
in ac&uiring -no%ledge through the use of
his0her preferred means. Ay ta-ing this
responsibility' the learner finds the learning
e+perience more meaning and becomes more
satisfied %ith it because s0he -no%s ho% to
use the material to his0her advantage. Brom
the opposite perspective' identifying
students. learning styles can help the
educator enrich his0her curriculum %ith a
variety of material that %ill cater for each
student.s taste' rather than stic- to a
monotonous method' as is customarily the
case %hen using a te+tboo-. And even if
thoroughly assessing a student group.s
learning style might not be possible in all
cases' identifying roughly %hat categories
they belong to can ma-e the lesson much
more en/oyable and re%arding for both the
student and the teacher.
III. 2-12ANIN3
Turning from the general area of learning
to the specialized one of e-learning' %e can
generally define it as the inta-e of -no%ledge
through the use of electronic devices' such as
computers' mobile phones' tablets' etc. 2-
learning also encompasses %eb-based' online
or distance learning' as %ell as the use of
net%or-s' e-boo-s' broadcasts' forum
discussions' $"0">"-roms and so on and so
forth.
Tsai and ,achado (9::9) present a
number of common cases that lie at the heart
of the e-learning e+perience<
= esearch on the %eb< searching for
useful material that the learner need on the
internet.
= 2ducational games< playing games
that have an educational scope' either online
or not.
= !nline learning< using %eb-based
platforms' such as the online %eb-based help
of ,icrosoft !ffice mentioned above.
= 1earning on-demand< follo%ing a
structured online training course over a
period of time' li-e the ones offered by
$oursera for instance.
= Advanced "istributed 1earning<
using alternative methods' such as video
conferencing' to deliver a lesson that %ould
other%ise be lost (e.g. because of bad
%eather or if the lecturer is abroad).
As should be evident from this' e-learning
can be applied in almost every educational
situation no%adays' enabling thus the
students to learn %hatever they %ant from a
9
variety of place' as long as they have an
electronic device %ith them.any of the
current designations.
I>. 12ANIN3 4T5124 IN 2-12ANIN3
Aefore Turning to the %ay in %hich
theories of learning styles can be applied in
e-learning material' the most obvious %ay
seems to be by creating materials appropriate
for each -ind of learner. As Ca--inen sho%s
in the relevant section of his ,aster.s thesis
(9::D<1E-93)' a number of authors have
come up %ith a classification of relevant
activities that %ill enhance the learning
e+perience of individuals in each group.
"epending on the theory that each of these
authors discusses' this classification can
vary' but it is still obvious that different
-inds of activities pertain to different -inds
of learning styles.
Bor e+ample' on the basis of the tripartite
distinction bet%een visual' auditory and
-inaesthetic learners that %e have ta-en on
so far the follo%ing recommendations seem
to be reasonable<
= Bor the visual learner< 2-boo-s'
lecture notes' articles as %ell as graphics'
tables' figures' videos' etc.
= Bor the auditory learner< virtual
lectures' videoconferencing' sound files' etc.
= Bor the -inaesthetic learner< 3"
modelling' hands on tests %ith specific
programs' etc.
Fo%ever' even if ta-e on the finer
distinctions among learner groups that %ere
suggested above' similar recommendations
seems to follo% from Ca--inen.s discussion'
and especially his summary of >12 related
activities (9::D<91). Bor e+ample' activities
li-e online chatting' forum posting or simple
email correspondence %ould be appropriate
for the more active social learner' %hile
activities that emphasise on learners
%atching and listening (e.g. proper lecturing)
or producing something on their o%n (e.g.
summaries) %ould be better suited for the
reflective solitary one.
Against this bac-ground' %e can easily
see that the number of different -inds of
materials at the educator.s disposal is
substantial in the e-learning setting. 3iven
this' the final point that %e %ould li-e to turn
to in this brief paper concerns a %ay in %hich
the e-learning e+perience can become even
more effective using automatic means that
adapt the materials offered to the learner on
the basis of his0her preferred learning style.
>. A"A?TI>2 2-12ANIN3 454T2, "24I3N
In discussing the potential design of one
such adaptive e-learning system 4ur/ono
(9:11) suggests that it is responsible for t%o
tas-s.
The first one is identifying the learning
style of each individual student through the
use of a &uestionnaire. Guestionnaires are
commonly used for the purposes of
discovering a student.s learning style. The
particular one that the author proposes in this
paper' aims at distinguishing bet%een visual'
auditory and -inaesthetic learners that fall
%ithin one of the t%o categories of global
and se&uential learning* the relevant
distinction here is %hether the individual
needs to follo% logical steps in ac&uiring the
desired -no%ledge or can /ust globally get
%ithout %or-ing any argumentation out in
his0her head. 4ur/ono.s system is fully
customizable' enabling the teacher to edit not
only the actual teaching materials but also
the &uestionnaire &uestions' as the flo%chart
for teachers in Big.1 belo% sho%s (after
4ur/ono 9:11<93E9).
3
The second tas- that 4ur/ono.s adaptive
e-learning system performs is chec- each
student.s preferred learning style and decide'
on the basis of the &uestionnaire' %hich
-ind(s) of materials %ill be more suitable for
the student at hand. !nce this is done' the
student %ill no longer have access to the
&uestionnaire and %ill have a curriculum
tailored not only to his0her individual needs
but also preferences.
The ne+t step is the implementation of the
system using a suitable platform such as
,oodle' %hich can support different %ays of
teaching. The problem of using these -inds
of platforms is that they do not support the
identification of the learning style
mechanism. Big. 9 belo% illustrates the
relevant student flo%chart in 4ur/ono.s
system.
>I. $!N$1#4I!N
To sum up' it seems that the theoretical
discussion of learning styles can be very
useful in the development of e-learning
platforms' and the possibilities that adaptive
e-learning systems open up are &uite
promising. After all' as 4ur/ono notes
(9:11<93E3) e+isting platforms' such as
,oodle' can already support various
different %ays of teaching' but their full
potential in offering each student an
individually tailor-made curriculum %ill only
be reached if they are customized to identify
each student.s preferred learning style and
strategies.
2B22N$24
- Tsai' 4. H ,achado' ?. (9::9) I2-
1earning Aasics< 2ssay 2-learning'
online learning' %eb-based learning'
or distance learning< unveiling the
ambiguity in current terminology.'
in eLearn 9::9(@).
- 3ila-/ani' A.?. H Ahmadi' 4.,.
(9:11) IThe 2ffect of >isual'
Auditory' and Cinaesthetic 1earning
4tyles on 1anguage Teaching.' in
Proceedings of the 2011
International Conference on Social
Science and Huanity. 4ingapore<
IA$4IT ?ress' pp. ;JD-;@9.
- Canninen' 2. (9::D) Learning Styles
and !"learning. ,4c dissertation'
Tampere #niversity of Technology.
- !vervie% of 1earning 4tyles (9:1;).
etrieved ,arch 1:' 9:1;' from
http<00%%%.learning-styles-
online.com0overvie%0
- 4ur/ono' F.". (9:11) IThe "esign
of Adaptive 2-1earning 4ystems
based on 4tudent.s 1earning 4tyles.'
in International #ournal of
Co$uter Science and Inforation
;
%echnologies (I#CSI%) 9(E)< 93E:-
93E3.
E