Abstract:

INTUITEL (Intelligent Tutoring Interface for Technology Enhanced Learning) is a research project co-financed by the European Commission with the aim to advance state-of-the-art e-learning systems via addition of guidance and feedback for learners.

The objective of INTUITEL is to enhance e-learning content and Learning Management Systems (LMS) with features that so far have been provided only by human tutors. An INTUITEL-enabled system will provide an integrated learning environment that can reconfigure and adapt itself to the needs of any learner. This will monitor their learning behaviour, and their progress, so as to support their learning with formative feedback based on the learner’s profile, and, the relevant pedagogical models. Additionally this learning feedback will be informed by insights arising from monitoring the student’s learning style and attitude, the cultural and emotional context in which learning takes place and the relevant environmental influences such as ambient noise, available communication bandwidth and interface features such as the screen size.

A key element in INTUITEL is an OWL-based pedagogical ontology, which will provide a unified way to describe learning material and learning pathways. Diverse domain-specific ontologies can then be translated into an INTUITEL conform format and provide the system with a detailed cognitive model.

The next key component is LMS integration. This integration will allow INTUITEL to measure the learning progress, have direct interaction with the learner and recommend the optimal learning objects.

To enhance the exchangeability of learning material, a new data format, the Semantic Learning Object Model (SLOM), will be specified. More than just storing content, SLOM will also contain domain-specific as well as pedagogical knowledge and thus bridge the gap between learning management systems and domain ontologies.

Finally, in order to guide each individual user through the learning material in an optimal way, the Learning Progress Model (LPM) will deduce the learner’s current position in the cognitive model. By using diverse historic and current metadata about the learner, as well as ambient information, the INTUITEL Engine will then create recommendations on how to best proceed, helping the learner to master the learning material as efficient and sustainable as possible.

The INTUITEL project commenced in October 2012 and, therefore, it is currently in progress. INTUITEL interfaces are being developed for major LMS, including Open-Source Platforms such as Moodle and ILIAS, and, others such as Clix, Crayons and eXact. The INTUITEL Consortium includes Partners from 7 countries (Austria, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and UK); these are: Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (as the Coordinator), Fraunhofer IOSB, Steinbeis Innovation GmbH, University of Reading, University of Vienna, International University of La Rioja, Holon Institute of Technology, TIE Nederlands b.v., FZI Karlsruhe, eXact Learning Solutions, IMC Information Multimedia Communication AG and Universidad de Valladolid. The last one is authors’ institution and the responsible for the integration within Moodle, one of the most important open-source LMS.

INTUITEL is co-financed by the European Comission under the 7th Framework Programme (Grant Agreement No.318496).