Supporting Authoring of Adaptive Hypermedia By Maurice Hendrix A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science Supervisor: Dr A.I. Cristea University of Warwick, Department of Computer Science March 2010 I Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. II List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... IX List of Tables .................................................................................................................... XIII Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................XIV Declarations ....................................................................................................................... XV Abstract .............................................................................................................................XIX List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ................................................................................. XX 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Problem ................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Objectives .................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 3 1.3 Thesis Outline .............................................................................................................. 4 2 Background Research .......................................................................................................... 6 2.1 E-Learning and standards ............................................................................................ 7 2.1.1 Metadata standards IEEE Learning Object Metadata: LOM ............................... 7 2.1.2 Dublin Core ......................................................................................................... 7 2.1.3 IMS Learner Information Packaging (IMS-LIP) ................................................. 8 2.1.4 IMS Content Packaging (IMS-CP) ...................................................................... 8 2.1.5 Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) ........................................ 9 2.1.6 IMS Vocabulary Definition Exchange (IMS-VDEX)........................................ 10 2.1.7 IMS Question and Test Interoperability (IMS-QTI) .......................................... 11 2.1.8 IMS-Learning Design (IMS-LD) ....................................................................... 12 2.1.9 Learning Management Systems (LMSs) ........................................................... 12 2.2 Semantic Web/Desktop ............................................................................................. 13 2.2.1 Resource Description Framework and Resource Description Framework (RDF and RDFS) .................................................................................................................. 13 2.2.2 Web Ontology Language (OWL) ...................................................................... 15 2.3 Adaptive Hypermedia: Brusilovsky’s Taxonomy ..................................................... 16 II 2.4 Models for Adaptive (Educational) Hypermedia ....................................................... 18 2.4.1 The Dexter Hypertext Reference Model ............................................................ 18 2.4.2 AHAM ............................................................................................................... 19 2.4.3 Munich Adaptive Hypermedia Reference Model .............................................. 20 2.4.4 Web Modelling Language (WebML) ................................................................ 21 2.4.5 The Goldsmiths Adaptive Hypermedia Model (GAHM) .................................. 21 2.4.6 The XML Adaptive Hypermedia Model (XAHM) ............................................ 22 2.4.7 The Generic Adaptivity Model (GAM) ............................................................. 22 2.4.8 Layered WWW AHS Authoring Models and their Corresponding Operators (LAOS) ....................................................................................................................... 23 2.4.9 The Layers of Adaptation Granularity (LAG) Framework ................................ 25 2.4.10 Comparison ...................................................................................................... 26 2.5 Authoring Adaptation Strategies ............................................................................... 32 2.5.1 The LAG Language ........................................................................................... 33 2.5.2 LAG-XLS .......................................................................................................... 37 2.5.3 GRAPPLE Adaptation Language (GAL) .......................................................... 38 2.6 Authoring Content for Adaptation ............................................................................. 39 2.6.1 Common Adaptation Format (CAF) .................................................................. 39 2.6.2 Ontology Based Content Description ................................................................ 43 2.7 Adaptive Hypermedia Authoring Systems ................................................................ 43 2.7.1 My Online Teacher (MOT)................................................................................ 44 2.7.2 Adaptive Hypermedia for All (AHA!) ............................................................... 48 2.7.3 Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) .............................................. 50 2.7.4 Activity Course Construction Toolkit (ACCT) ................................................. 51 2.8 Related Adaptive Hypermedia and E-Learning Projects ........................................... 51 2.8.1 ProLearn ............................................................................................................ 51 2.8.2 Adaptive Learning Space (ALS) ........................................................................ 52 2.8.3 Generic Responsive Adaptive Personalised Learning Environment (GRAPPLE) .................................................................................................................................... 53 3 Automatic Content Addition ............................................................................................. 55 III 3.1 Authoring and Learning Scenario .............................................................................. 56 3.2 The Approach ............................................................................................................ 58 3.2.1 Metadata Schemas ............................................................................................. 59 3.2.2 Enriching the Domain Model and Goal Model with Metadata .......................... 60 3.2.3 Concept-oriented Relevance Ranking Method .................................................. 60 3.2.4 Article-oriented Relevance Ranking Method .................................................... 61 3.2.5 Sets versus Multisets in Computation of Relevance Ranking ........................... 62 3.2.6 Allowing Duplicates Among Sibling Concepts in the Concept Hierarchy ........ 62 3.2.7 Adding Metadata as Separate Concepts or as Attributes ................................... 63 3.2.8 Handling Flexible Schemas ............................................................................... 63 3.3 First Prototype ........................................................................................................... 72 3.4 Evaluations ................................................................................................................ 74 3.4.1 Small Scale Qualitative Analysis ....................................................................... 74 3.4.2 Qualitative Analyses .......................................................................................... 75 3.5 Second Prototype ....................................................................................................... 82 3.6 Evaluation of second prototype ................................................................................. 86 3.6.1 Evaluation Setup ................................................................................................ 86 3.6.2 Hypotheses ......................................................................................................... 86 3.6.3 Results and Discussion ...................................................................................... 87 3.7 Related Research ....................................................................................................... 90 3.8 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 90 4 Adaptation Languages and Standards, a Comparative Analysis between IMS-Learning Design and Adaptive Educational Hypermedia ................................................................... 93 4.1 Representation and Semantics ..................................................................................