1. USE OF ONTOLOGY-BASED STUDENT MODEL IN SEMANTIC-ORIENTED ACCESS TO THE KNOWLEDGE IN DIGITAL LIBRARIES
Desislava Paneva
Institute of Mathematics and Informatics
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

2. Presentation overview
Basic concepts and characteristics of digital libraries
Digital libraries and eLearning systems vis-à-vis
Student modelling – main issues, standards, Semantic web approach for model constructing, examples
Main elements of the student model
Student ontology
Scenario for implementation of student ontology
Conclusion and future work
References

3. Basic concepts and characteristics of digital libraries
Digital libraries (DL) are organised collections of digital content made available to the public, offering services and infrastructure to support preservation and presentation of visual and knowledge objects anytime and anywhere.
The main characteristics of digital libraries:
Ability to share information
New forms and formats for information presentation
Easy information update
Accessibility from anywhere, at any time
Services available for searching, selecting, grouping and presenting digital information, extracted from a number of locations
Personalization and adaptation
Contemporary methods and tools for digital information protection and preservation
Different types of computer equipment and software
No limitations related to the size of content to be presented, etc.

4. Basic concepts and characteristics of digital libraries
The functionalities and advanced services of contemporary digital libraries:
Multi-layer and personalized search, context-based search, relevant feedback
Resource and collection management
Metadata management
Indexing
Semantic annotation of digital resources and collection
Multi-object and multi-feature search
Different media type search, etc.
Architectures:
Hypermedia digital library
Grid-based infrastructure
Hyperdatabase infrastructure

5. Digital libraries and eLearning systems vis-à-vis
Knowledge-on-Demand
Just-in-time methods for supporting knowledge
Provision of more efficient and more flexible tools for transforming digital content to suit the needs of end-users
Sustaining of resources
Resource description
Heterogeneous resources in a coherent way
Intellectual property rights
Flexible architectures that provide interoperability
Innovative services
Effective user modelling tools, etc.

6. Student modelling
Student modelling can be defined as the process of acquiring knowledge about the student in order to provide services, adaptive content and personalized instructional flow/s according to specific student’s requirements.
Main questions:
Student interests: What is the student interested in? What needs to be done or accomplished?
Student preferences: How is something done or accomplished?
Student objectives and intents: What the student actually wants to achieve?
Student motivation: What is the force that drives the student to be engaged in learning activities?
Student experience: What is the student’s previous experience that may have an impact on learning achievement?
Student activities: What the student does in the learning environment? ….

7. Student modelling standards
Incorporation between IEEE LTSC’s Personal and Private Information (PAPI) Standard and the IMS Learner Information Package (LIP)

8. Student modelling – Semantic web approach
Earliest ideas of using ontologies for learner modelling (Chen&Mizoguchi, 1999).
Use of ontologies for reusable and “scrutable” student models (Kay, 1999)
Ontology modelling languages - OIL, DAML+OIL, RDF/RDFS, OWL, etc.
Ontology development tools - Apollo, LinkFactory®, OILEd, OntoEditFree, Ontolingua server, OntoSaurus, OpenKnoME, Protégé-2000, SymOntoX, WebODE, WebOnto, OntoBuilder, etc.
Ontology merge and integration tools – Chimaera, FCA-Merge (a method for bottom-up merging of ontologies), PROMPT, ODEMerge, etc.
Ontology-based annotation tools – AeroDAML, COHSE, MnM, OngtoAnnotate, OntoMat-Annotizer, SHOE Knowledge Annotator, etc.
Ontology storing and querying tools - ICS-FORTH RDFSuite, Sesame, Inkling, rdfDB, RDFStore, Extensible Open RDF (EOR), Jena, TRIPLE, KAON Tool Suite, Cerebra®, Ontopia Knowledge Suite, Empolis K42, etc.
Main tools for constructing a student model ontology are:

9. Student modelling - examples
SeLeNe learner profile
The Self e-Learning Networks Project (SeLeNe) is a one-year Accompanying Measure funded by EU FP5, running from 1st November 2002 to 31st October 2003, extended until 31st January 2004

10. Student modelling - examples
An excerpt of ELENA conceptual model for the learner profile with main concepts
Project ELENA – Creating a Smart Space for Learning (01/09/2002 – 29/02/2005)

11. Main elements of the student model
General student information
StudentPersonalData - StudentName, StudentSurname, StudentId, StudentAge, StudentPostalAddress, Student , StudentTelephone
StudentPreference – StudentObjectGroupingPreference, StudentObjectObservationStyle, StudentMultipleIntelligence, StudentPhysicalLimitation, StudentLanguagePreference
StudentBackground - StudentLastEducation, StudentExperience
StudentMotivationState - StudentInterest, StudentKnowledgeLevel
StudentLearningGoal.
Information about the student’s behaviour
StudentObjectObservationTime
StudentChosenObject
StudentChosenCollection
StudentObjectObservationPath
StudentCompetenceLevel.

12. Student ontology

13. Student ontology

14. Student ontology quantifier property filler Object properties:
Inverse properties: hasA and isAOf, where A is the name of some class or sub-class
Examples: hasStudentBackground and isStudentBackgroundOf hasStudentExperience and isStudentExperienceOf hasStudentKnowledgeLevel and isStudentKnowledgeLevelOf, etc.
Other properties: PreferringObjectGrouping, FollowingObjectObservationPath, Wishing, etc.
Restriction: Existential quantifier () and the Universal quantifier ()
Examples: “ Wishing StudentObjectObservationStyle”
quantifier property filler

15. Student ontology
The figure depicts the StudentBackground class of the described student ontology. The student background is based on the StudentLastEducation and StudentExperience. The last education is certified by any diploma or certificate with a written qualification type. This document is issued by a certain organization and usually has a validation period. The student experience implies type, description and duration.

16. Scenario for implementation of student ontology
Personalized search
Student motivation state - student knowledge level (beginner, advanced, high) and student interest
Student learning goal
Student background
Student behaviour in the digital library – chosen objects/collections, object observation path, etc.
Student object observation style
Language preference
Student physical limitations, etc.
Context-based search
Student preferences – object grouping preference, etc.

17. Conclusion and future work
Modelling and creation of domain ontology, describing the knowledge for the digital objects of the digital library.
Merging this ontology with the presented student ontology
Development of semantic-based DL services such as semantic annotation of digital objects, indexing, metadata management, etc.
Development and implementation of semantic search, personalized search, context-based search, multi-object search, multi-feature search, etc. using the merged ontology and following the implementation scenario.

18. References
LTSC Learner Model Working Group of the IEEE (2000) IEEE p1484.2/d7, Draft Standard for Learning Technology - Public and Private Information for Learners, Technical report Available Online:
Smythe, C., F. Tansey, R. Robson (2001) IMS Learner Information Package Information Model Specification, Technical report Available Online:
Chen, W., R. Mizoguchi (1999) Communication Content Ontology for Learner Model Agent in Multi-Agent Architecture, In Proceedings of AIED99 Workshop on Ontologies for Intelligent Educational Systems
Kay, J. (1999) Ontologies for reusable and scrutable student model, In Proceedings of AIED99 Workshop on Ontologies for Intelligent Educational Systems
Heckmann, D., A. Krueger (2003) A User Modeling Markup Language (UserML) for Ubiquitous Computing, In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on User Modeling, Berlin Heidelberg: Springer, pp
OWL Web Ontology Language Overview. W3C Recommendation 10 February 2004, Available Online:
Self, J. (1990) Bypassing the intractable problem of student modelling. In C. Frasson & G. Gauthier (Eds.), Intelligent Tutoring Systems: At the Crossroads of Artificial Intelligence and Education. New Jersey: AblexChen
Lane, C. (1998) Gardner’s multiple IntelligenceAvailable online:
Lane, C. (2000) Learning styles and multiple intelligences in distributed learning/IMS projects. San Clemente, CA, The Education Coalition (TEC)
Sison, R., M. Shimura (1998) Student Modelling and Machine Learning. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education volum 9, pp