1. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 1 Incorporating Cognitive/Learning Styles in a General-Purpose Adaptive Hypermedia System Natalia Stash June 25, 2008

2. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 2 Contents Introduction Goals of the Dissertation Implementation of a General-Purpose Adaptive Hypermedia System AHA! (Adaptive Hypermedia Architecture) Identification of Strategies Corresponding to Cognitive/Learning Styles (CS/LS) Application and Visualization of CS/LS Strategies in AHA! Approach Validation and Evaluation Conclusions and Future Work

3. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 3 Subject of the Dissertation Adaptive Hypermedia Computer Science topic Cognitive/Learning Styles Cognitive Psychology topic

4. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 4 What is Adaptive Hypermedia (AH)? Adaptive Hypermedia & Adaptive Hypermedia Systems (AHS) allow to solve traditional hypermedia problems. They store user information in the user model and apply it for: adapting link structure and adapting content presentation Problems with traditional hypermedia: navigation through a rich link structure the same information for everyone Hypermedia – non-sequential information, which is a combination of different media (such as text, images, audio) Classic example of hypermedia: World Wide Web (WWW)

5. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 5 Application Areas of AHS Before AHA! (Adaptive Hypermedia Architecture) there were only special-purpose AHS used for creating e.g.: -online educational courses -virtual museums -online information kiosks -etc. However there were no general-purpose tools

6. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 6 What are Cognitive/Learning Styles (CS/LS)? imager vs. verbalizerglobal vs. sequential active vs. reflective Individual differences in perceiving and processing information, preferred ways of learning. Examples of CS/LS:

7. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 7 Why Applying Cognitive/Learning Styles? Learner’s awareness of his/her style Matching teaching method (or instructional strategy) with CS/LS may increase learner’s performance Deliberate mismatching can help develop new skills Letting learners try different instruction strategies

8. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 8 Goals of the Dissertation 1.Creating a General-Purpose AH Tool novelty: –before AHA! there were only special-purpose tools 2.Providing Adaptation to Cognitive/Learning Styles –bridge the gap between AH and CS/LS –as a proof that a general-purpose tool has been created novelty: –most AHS with support for CS/LS are bound to certain models –CS/LS representation is predefined by the developers of the AHS rather than the developers of adaptive applications, pedagogues or psychologists

9. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 9 Design Requirements for a General-Purpose Tool (based on overview of AHS and AHAM) adaptation types and techniques (overview of AHS) aspects used for adaptation (overview of AHS & AHAM) arbitrary concept relationships (overview of AHS & AHAM) generic adaptation rules (AHAM) handling non-monotonic user model updates and cycles in adaptation rules (AHAM) Design wishes Authoring tools (overview of AHS) Performance (overview of AHS)

10. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 10 AHA! : from version1.0 to version 3.0 “aspects used for adaptation” & “arbitrary concept relationships” “generic adaptation rules” “non-monotonic UM updates” “handling cycles” Design requirement “adaptation types and techniques”

11. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 11 Design Wish: Authoring Tools (Graph Author)

12. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 12 Design Wishes Authoring Tools (overview of AHS) –high-level Graph Author Performance (overview of AHS) –AHA! achieves sub-second response time

13. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 13 Correlations Between CS/LS

14. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 14 Types of Adaptation Strategies Instructional strategies - selection of items - ordering information or providing different navigation paths Instructional meta-strategies – inference or monitoring strategies, to detect user’s learning style, e.g. preferences for: - certain types of information (e.g., text vs. image) - reading order (e.g., breadth-first vs. depth-first)

15. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 15 Learning Styles Strategies Structure in LAG-XLS

16. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 16

17. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 17 Presentation for Imager+Global Learner

18. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 18 Presentation for Verbal+Sequential Learner

19. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 19 Inferring Preferences for Image or Text

20. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 20 Presentation for Active Learner

21. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 21 Presentation for Reflective Learner

22. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 22 Approach Validation and Evaluation Representing features of AHS providing adaptation to CS/LS in AHA! Evaluation with students from TU/e - understanding of how the system works - authoring ease - satisfaction with the resulting presentation Validation with learning styles experts - satisfaction with the effect of the predefined strategies - expressivity of LAG-XLS language for defining strategies

23. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 23 Conclusion We showed that it is possible to create a general-purpose AH tool We demonstrated the general-purpose nature of AHA! by showing adaptation to CS/LS: - support for CS/LS implemented as an extension to the created tool - no changes to the core engine were required

24. / Where innovation starts 1212 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven University of Technology 24 Future Work Address the option for searching information in adaptive applications Creating various types of strategies not only limited to cognitive/learning styles Group user models and adaptation: use information about some users to help others