Reorganizing learning resources on the WWW and its application to adaptive recommendation for navigational support

• Published in: Electronics & communications in Japan. Part 3, Fundamental electronic science Vol. 88; no. 2; pp. 52 - 63
• Main Authors: Hasegawa, Shinobu, Kashihara, Akihiro, Toyoda, Jun'ichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.02.2005
• Subjects: learning resource; reorganization; resource index; resource navigation support; WWW
• DOI: 10.1002/ecjc.20158
• ISSN: 1042-0967

As the Internet rapidly increases in popularity, learning resources on the WWW are being used more and more. Since there are many learning resources that describe the same topic from different perspectives on the WWW, it is possible to deepen understanding of topics by making good use of them. Though there exists a tremendous amount of learning resources, in many cases they do not have clear descriptions of their properties, such as “What you can learn and how.” Thus, it is very difficult for learners to select learning resources that match their objectives. As an approach to this issue, we propose a method of providing indexes for description of the properties of learning resources, and of reorganizing learning resources based on them. In order to show the usefulness of this reorganization, we have developed a resource navigation support method that recommends learning resources at each step, with the aim of helping learners to deepen their understanding of a certain subject of study step by step. Testing and evaluation have shown the validity of this navigation support method based on resource indexes. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 3, 88(2): 52–63, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjc.20158