Pedagogically founded courseware generation for web-based learning : an HTN-planning-based approach implemented in paigos

Title:

Personal Author:

Ullrich, Carsten

Series:

Lecture notes in computer science ; 5260

Publication Information:

Berlin : Springer, 2008

Physical Description:

xvi, 257 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

ISBN:

9783540882138

Subject Term:

Web-based instruction

Computer network resources

Available:*

Library	Item Barcode	Call Number	Material Type	Item Category 1	Status
Searching... PSZ JB	30000010210804	LB1044.87 U44 2008	Open Access Book	Book	Searching... Unknown

Automatic course generation is a very important area of research with numerous practical applications in e-learning. It has been studied since the 1980s within the fields of intelligent tutoring, AI and education, adaptive hypermedia and web-based educational systems. Many approaches have been proposed, but hardly any have resulted in generic and practically applied systems. A number of problems have remained unresolved. These problems are addressed by this work.

This book focuses on course generation based on Hierarchical Task Network planning (HTN planning). This course generation framework enables the formalization and application of complex and realistic pedagogical knowledge. The volume describes basic techniques for course generation, which are used to formalize seven different types of courses (for instance, introducing the learner to previously unknown concepts and supporting the learner during rehearsal) and several elementary learning goals (e.g., selecting an appropriate example or exercise). This framework has been implemented and evaluated with good results in several domains, with users from different countries and universities, in the context of an EU project.

Course generation based on HTN planning is implemented in PAIGOS and has been evaluated by technical, formative and summative evaluations.

Part I Preliminaries
1 Introduction	p. 3
1.1 Motivation	p. 4
1.2 Contributions	p. 5
1.2.1 Service-Oriented Course Generation	p. 6
1.2.2 Modeling of Pedagogical Knowledge	p. 6
1.2.3 Adaptivity in Generated Courses	p. 7
1.2.4 Evaluation	p. 7
1.3 Overview	p. 8
2 Relevant Technologies	p. 11
2.1 Basic Terminology	p. 11
2.2 Semantic Web Technologies	p. 14
2.2.1 Extensible Markup Language	p. 15
2.2.2 Resource Description Framework	p. 15
2.2.3 OWL Web Ontology Language	p. 16
2.3 E-learning Standards	p. 17
2.3.1 Learning Object Metadata	p. 19
2.3.2 IMS Content Packaging	p. 20
2.3.3 IMS Simple Sequencing	p. 21
2.3.4 IMS Learning Design	p. 21
2.4 Mathematics in the Web	p. 22
2.4.1 OMDoc (Open Mathematical Documents)	p. 22
2.4.2 The Learning Environment ActiveMath	p. 22
2.5 Course Generation	p. 23
2.6 Hierarchical Task Network Planning	p. 26
2.6.1 Introduction to AI-Planning	p. 27
2.6.2 Introduction to Hierarchical Task Network Planning	p. 28
2.6.3 SHOP2 and JSHOP2	p. 29
2.6.4 JSHOP2 Formalism	p. 29
3 Descriptive and Prescriptive Learning Theories	p. 37
3.1 Behaviorism	p. 37
3.2 Cognitivism	p. 38
3.3 Constructivism	p. 38
3.4 Instructional Design	p. 39
3.5 Competency-Based Learning	p. 40
3.5.1 Mathematical Competencies	p. 40
3.5.2 Competency Levels	p. 42
Part II PAIGOS
4 General Principles	p. 45
4.1 An Ontology of Instructional Objects	p. 46
4.1.1 Motivation	p. 47
4.1.2 Description of the Ontology	p. 49
4.1.3 Why an Ontology?	p. 53
4.1.4 Applications of the Ontology	p. 54
4.2 A Mediator for Accessing Learning Object Repositories	p. 55
4.2.1 Related Work	p. 55
4.2.2 Overview of the Mediator Architecture	p. 57
4.2.3 Querying the Mediator	p. 57
4.2.4 Ontology Mapping and Query Rewriting	p. 58
4.2.5 Repository Interface and Caching	p. 59
4.2.6 Limitations of the Mediator as an Educational Service	p. 60
4.3 Pedagogical Tasks, Methods and Strategies	p. 61
4.4 Representing Course Generation Knowledge in an HTN Planner	p. 65
4.4.1 Motivation	p. 65
4.4.2 Mapping Pedagogical Tasks onto HTN Tasks	p. 66
4.4.3 Course Generation Planning Problems	p. 67
4.4.4 Critical and Optional Tasks	p. 68
4.5 Basic General Purpose Axioms and Operators	p. 69
4.5.1 Testing for Equality	p. 69
4.5.2 List Manipulation	p. 69
4.5.3 Binding a Variable to All Terms of a Term List	p. 71
4.5.4 Manipulating the World State	p. 71
4.6 Basic Operators and Methods of the Course Generation Domain	p. 72
4.6.1 Inserting References to Educational Resources	p. 72
4.6.2 Starting and Ending Sections	p. 76
4.6.3 Inserting References to Learning-Support Services	p. 78
4.6.4 An Operator for Dynamic Text Generation	p. 79
4.6.5 Dynamic Subtask Expansion	p. 80
4.6.6 Accessing Information about Educational Resources	p. 80
4.6.7 Axioms for Accessing the Learner Model	p. 82
4.6.8 Processing Resources Depending on Learner Characteristics	p. 86
4.6.9 Initializing and Manipulating Information about the Learning Goal	p. 88
4.7 Converting a Plan into a Course	p. 92
4.8 Generating Structure and Adaptivity: Dynamic Tasks	p. 99
4.9 Generation of Narrative Bridges and Structure	p. 100
4.9.1 Empirical Findings	p. 101
4.9.2 Operator and Methods for Text Generation	p. 103
4.9.3 Symbolic Representations of Dynamic Text Items	p. 105
4.9.4 Generation of Structure Information	p. 106
4.10 Summary	p. 108
5 Course Generation in Practice: Formalized Scenarios	p. 111
5.1 Moderate Constructivist Competency-Based Scenarios	p. 111
5.1.1 Course Generation and Constructivism - a Contradiction?	p. 112
5.1.2 Selecting Exercises	p. 114
5.1.3 Selecting Examples	p. 121
5.1.4 Scenario "Discover"	p. 127
5.1.5 Scenario "Rehearse"	p. 142
5.1.6 Scenario "Connect"	p. 145
5.1.7 Scenario "Train Intensively"	p. 150
5.1.8 Scenario "Train Competencies"	p. 153
5.1.9 Scenario "Exam Simulation"	p. 155
5.2 Course Generation Based on Instructional Design Principles	p. 161
5.2.1 Merrill's "First Principles of Instruction"	p. 161
5.2.2 Scenario "Guided Tour"	p. 162
6 Implementation and Integration	p. 169
6.1 Implementation	p. 169
6.2 Integration of PAIGOS in ActiveMath	p. 171
6.2.1 Course Generation in ActiveMath	p. 171
6.2.2 Dynamically Generated Elements in a Table of Contents	p. 174
6.2.3 Usage of Learning-Support Services in ActiveMath	p. 176
6.2.4 Template-Based Generation of Narrative Bridges	p. 182
6.2.5 PAIGOS as a Service in ActiveMath	p. 185
6.3 Course Generation as a Web-Service	p. 189
6.3.1 Interfaces	p. 190
7 Evaluation	p. 193
7.1 Technical Evaluations and Use Cases	p. 193
7.1.1 Evaluation of the Ontology	p. 193
7.1.2 Mediator Use Cases and Evaluations	p. 195
7.1.3 Course Generation Use Cases and Evaluations	p. 195
7.1.4 Performance of PAIGOS	p. 196
7.1.5 Discussion	p. 201
7.2 Formative and Summative Evaluation	p. 201
7.2.1 Formative Evaluations	p. 202
7.2.2 Summative Evaluation	p. 205
7.2.3 Discussion	p. 213
Part III Conclusions
8 Related Work	p. 221
8.1 Early Work	p. 221
8.2 Generic Tutoring Environment	p. 222
8.3 Dynamic Courseware Generator	p. 223
8.4 ACE/WINDS	p. 224
8.5 Former Course Generator of ActiveMath	p. 225
8.6 APeLS/iClass	p. 226
8.7 SeLeNe	p. 227
8.8 Statistical Methods for Course Generation	p. 228
8.9 Approaches Using Hierarchical Task Network Planning	p. 229
8.10 Ontologies for Instructional Design	p. 230
9 Future Work and Acknowledgments	p. 231
9.1 Future Work	p. 231
Complete List of User Comments	p. 233
References	p. 241
Index	p. 255

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