Adaptation Patterns with respect to Learning Styles

Adaptation Patterns with respect to Learning Styles Mohammed Al-Sarem

Mostafa Bellafkih

Mohammed Ramdani

Département d’informatique FST Mohammedia

Institut National des Postes et Télécommunications (INPT)

Mohammedia, Maroc

Rabat, Maroc

Département d’informatique FST Mohammedia Mohammedia, Maroc

Abstract—Adaptive Web-based Educational Systems represent an emerging technology that provides a unique advantage over traditional Web-based Educational Systems; that is the ability to adapt to the user's needs, goals, preferences learning styles. Due to the fact that accommodating learning styles in educational systems has a significant influence on the learning process, this paper presents set of patterns that can be used to adapt the learning content in AESs. Keywords-component; Design Patterns; Adaptive Hypermedia Systems, Learning styles, Felder and Silverman Learning Style Model.

I.

INTODUCTION

Providing learners with adaptive courses that fit their characteristics and needs is a ‘hot’ topic of research in the broader field of adaptive hypermedia applications. By Brusilovsky [1], an adaptive web-based educational system AES is “a dynamic web-based application, which provides a tailored learning environment to its users, by adapting both the presentation and the navigation through the content”. The learning styles of a learner are one of the main characteristics that have take into account during design AES. Literature survey shows that accommodating learning styles in educational systems has a significant influence on the learning process. However, attempting to represent knowledge regarding the psychological characteristics of the learner and adapting the course so as to best suit them is a challenging research goal. Nowadays, several educational institutions are designing and developing their own AES. However, the design and implementation of such systems is a complex, if not overwhelming, task [2]. One way to overcome this complexity is the use of design patterns. By definition of the pioneer of design patterns, the architect Alexander, the design patterns is “… a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem” [3]. By Zemirline [4], “a design pattern is a recurrent solution to a common problem in software design where the solution is generic and cannot be directly translated to code”. This paper presents a set of patterns that can be used to adapt the learning content in AESs. So, before starting to describe how we will utilize learning style in our context, Section (ii) gives some definitions of learning styles, Then, the Felder and Silverman (Felder and Silverman, 1988) learning style model, reason behind this choice will be presented. Next, the adaptation patterns that will be used to automatically adapt learning content are presented in Section (iii). Finally, the conclusions and future works are presented in Section (iv).

II.

Theory of Learning Styles

A. Learning Style Definitions Learning style is one of the individual differences that play an important role in learning. The term, “Learning styles” was first used by Thelen (1954) in discussing the dynamics of group at work. The term “learning style” has been attributed with several connotations. It designates everything that is characteristic to an individual when she/he is learning, i.e. a specific manner of approaching a learning task, the learning strategies activated in order to fulfill the task. Generally, the learning styles can be defined as: - “The composite of characteristic cognitive, affective, and psychological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment.” [5]; - “distinctive behaviours which serve as indicators of how a person learns from and adapts to his environment, and provide clues as to how a person’s mind operates” [6]. - “a gestalt combining internal and external operations derived from the individual’s neurobiology, personality and development, and reflected in learner behaviour” [7]; - “the way in which learners perceive, process, store and recall attempts of learning” [8]; - “an individual’s preferred approach to organizing and presenting information” [9]; - “a predisposition on the part of some students to adopt a particular learning strategy regardless of the specific demands of the learning task” [10]. As we see, all the above definitions share the same basic idea: “the term learning style refers to a way or an approach a student follows in the course of learning”. So, on one hand, the learning styles can be seen as applied cognitive styles. On the other hand, the learning styles can be viewed in terms of attention or factors that affect the learning of students. B. Felder and Silverman Learning Style Model As the learning styles had a positive impact on the learning effectiveness, over the past 25 years several models have been proposed. Among this variety, it is difficult to determine which leaning style is more suitable. One way for overcoming this difficulty is to define a set of criteria for selecting the most appropriate learning style model. According to Karagiannidis and Sampson [11], the most important criterion, apart from the theoretical and the empirical justification of the model, is the suitability of each model for the specific learning context under consideration and the available adaptation

technologies. However, there are some additional selection criteria that need to be considered: - Measurability, which measures how learners are classified into the categories defined by each model. For example, for the learning style models that differentiate learners according to their emotions, it may not be reasonable to select them due to difficulties of measuring learner’s emotions. - Time effectiveness, in the WESs where the assessment instrument (learning style index questionnaire) is very long, the instrument may not be acceptable as the student may not be willing to dedicate her/his time in order to complete it. On the contrary, it may become a cause for abandon work with the system. - Cost, some assessment instruments are only available for use after payment, while others are free-of-charge. Therefore, designers of WESs have to take this criterion in consideration. - Experimental Validation, some learning style models were widely experimented and validated more than others.

When answering a question, e.g., with an active preference, +1 is added to the value of the active/reflective dimension whereas an answer for a reflective preference decreases the value by 1. Therefore, each question is answered either with a value of +1 (answer a) or -1 (answer b). Consequently, if the total score on a scale is 1-3, this means that a student is fairly well balanced on the two dimensions of that scale. If the score on a scale is 5 or 7, the student has a moderate preference for one dimension of the scale and will learn more easily in a teaching environment which favors that dimension. If the score is 9 or 11, the student has strong preference for one dimension of the scale and s/he may have real difficulty learning in an environment which does not support that preference. Table 1: Styles Indicators (Felder/Silverman model)

Learning style dimension:

For the reasons below, we have selected the Felder and Silverman model as a learning style model: 1. It fulfills most the required above criteria; 2. It displays a good degree of validity and reliability/internal consistency; 3. It is suitable for use with an adaptive web-based educational system (Brown et al., 2006); 4. It has been approved by its author and other specialists and successfully implemented in several works; 5. It is user-friendly and the results are easy to interpret. According to this model, a student learning style can be defined by a set of attributes, each one related to a different learning “dimension”, as reported in Table 1. To diagnose the learning style of a student by the Felder/Silverman learning style model (FSLSM), an associated measuring instrument socalled “Soloman and Felder Index of Learning Styles questionnaire” is used. The questionnaire consists of 44 questions1, each with two possible answers. As a result of the test, the learning style of the student is described on a scale between “-11” and “+11” (with a step of +/-2) for each FSLSM dimension (see Fig. 1). This range comes from the 11 questions that are posed for each dimension.

Process/ Knowledge Building

1

http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyle/ilsweb.html.

How do students prefer to process information and convert it into knowledge?

Learning style attribute

Active (ACT)

Reflexive (REF)

Sensory (SEN)

Perception

How does the student tend to perceive the world? Intuitive (INT)

Input

Figure1: The FSLSM report Form

Question about…

Process/ Understanding

Through which sensory channel does the student prefer to receive external information?

How does the student progress towards understanding?

Visual (VIS)

Auditory/ Verbal (VRB) Sequential (SEQ)

Global (GLO)

Attribute definition

An active student learns best by trying things out and enjoys collaborative working. A reflexive student likes to think about the material first and prefers working alone. A sensory student perceives the world mainly by observing it and by gathering data through the senses. S/he has a preference towards facts and details. An intuitive student perceives the world mainly through intuition. S/he prefers abstract material, likes to innovate, to discover possibilities and relationships. A visual student remembers best what s/he perceives in a non strictly verbal form, e.g., pictures, diagrams, flow charts, videos, etc., An auditory/verbal student remembers much of what s/he hears and then says. S/he likes auditory presentations. Sequential student tends to gain understanding in linear steps. Global student learns in large leaps, being fuzzy about the details of the subject but being able to make rapid connections between subjects.

III.

ADAPTATION PATTERNS

A. General Description The main roles of the designed patterns are to reduce the time and effort during design and implement a system. According to Gamma et al. [12], a pattern can be fully described using the following characteristics: - Intent: A short description explaining the goal of the pattern and the reason for using it. - Motivation: A scenario illustrating the design problem and a context in which this pattern can be used. - Applicability: Situations in which this pattern can be usable. It must highlight how to recognize these situations. - Solution: A graphical representation of the pattern using a notation based on the Object Modeling Technique (OMT) - Constituents: The set of the classes and objects used in the pattern and their responsibilities. - Collaboration: A description of the interactions between the participants of this pattern. - Consequences: A description of the results, side effects, and tradeoffs caused by using this pattern. - Implementation: A description of an implementation of this pattern. - Sample Code: An illustration of how this pattern can be used in a programming language. - Known Uses: Examples of real usages of this pattern. - Related Patterns: A discussion compared to other patterns, its similarities or main differences, the pattern with which it can be combined.

The pedagogical goal of our adaptation pattern is to offer students recommendations regarding the most suited learning objects with possibility of allowing them decide whether they want to follow our guidelines or not. According to Popescu [13], this kind of control has several advantages: “in case the learning style preference identified by the system is not accurate, the students can ignore the system recommendations and consult the learning objects that they feel are most suitable for them and in the order that they judge appropriate. Second, there may be students who prefer to study the course extensively and so they should have access to all the additional LOs. Furthermore, imposing a course structure or order to a student may make them feel frustrated and/or confused, especially when they have a chance to compare their version of the course with their peers’…” In what follows we present the proposed patterns that can be used for adapting learning content corresponding to each of the learning preferences. In case of a specific perception modality preference, we will follow the recommendation of Popescu [13]: the recommended action would be to present the learner first with the preferred media type and then with the alternative representation types. Therefore, in case of a learner with a Visual preference, the LOs which contain image and/or video will be shown before those contain text and/or audio, while in the case of a learner with a Verbal preference, the LOs will be reversed: text/audio, followed by image/video. These adaptation patterns are formally presented as shown in Table 2 and Table 3 respectively: Table 2: Adaptation pattern for a visual learner

Name:

Visual learner.

B. Description the proposed adaptation Pattern

Intent:

addresses the needs of a Visual learner

Our adaptation patterns are defined using three characteristics of the design patterns described in Table 4-5:

Solution:

uses three dimensions to describe the solution The strategy: the course should include plenty of multimedia objects (video and images); the content will be presented as much as possible using graphics and schemas. The technique: specific media type filtering. The rule: If preference is “visual” Then Select dc2: type{Image, Video, Sound, Text} Sort dc: type {Image/Video, Sound/Text} Expand Fragment dc: type {Image/Video} Collapse Fragment3dc: type {Sound/Text} Dim dc: type {Sound, Text}

=

, where

,

,

specifies the name of the pattern, describes the problem for which this pattern can be used, and uses three dimensions to describe the solution: : describes the adaptation strategies that should be used for each preference. : specifies the available adaptation technique. : specifies resources that would be proposed to learners. The

The

,

can be abstracted as follows:

{

}

Table 3: Adaptation pattern for a verbal learner

Name:

Verbal learner.

Intent:

addresses the needs of a Verbal learner

Solution:

uses three dimensions to describe the solution The strategy: the course should include more text and audio materials. The technique: specific media type filtering.

also can be abstracted as follows: =

where { , , is a learning object carrying a specific

{

} , .

}

and

2

dc: type refers to the media type of the LO, while LoType refers to the instructional role of the LO. 3 Here, expand and collapse rules are used for guiding adaptation mechanism how to present learning content

The rule: If preference is “verbal” Then Select dc: type{Image, Video, Sound, Text} Sort dc: type {Sound/Text, Image/Video} Expand Fragment dc: type {Sound/Text} Collapse Fragment dc: type {Image/Video} Dim dc: type {Image/ Video}

In case of a learner with “Intuitive” preference, the LOs are sorted such that the illustrative LOs (examples, case studies) are presented after the fundamental LOs (concepts, theories, definition etc.) which are the recommended and consequently highlighted resources. Conversely, in case of a learner with “Sensing” preference, the LOs will be sorted in the opposite order: first the illustrative (which are the recommended and highlighted resources) and then the fundamental LOs. More formally:

about a topic are included and placed at the end of the chapter. On the contrary, in case of a sequential preference, the course includes a step-by-step presentation of the content, with a very regular structure; the links to the related advanced LOs are placed at the end of the chapter. The test will be presented at shorter intervals. Table 6: Adaptation pattern for a global learner

Name:

Global learner.

Intent:

addresses the needs of a global learner

Solution:

uses three dimensions to describe the solution The strategy: provide preview of the topic, highlight advanced concepts, provide information on relationships to relevant topics, and include exercises at any level of detail about a topic. The technique: sorting fragments. The rule: If preference is “global” Then Select dc: type{Fundamental, Illustration, auxiliary, explanation, interactivity} Sort LoType Interactivity {end of the chapter} Highlight LoType {AdditionalInfo}

Table 4: Adaptation pattern for a learner with "intuitive" preference

Name:

Intuitive learner.

Intent:

addresses the needs of a learner with “intuitive” preference

Solution:

uses three dimensions to describe the solution The strategy: the course should be focused more on theories, presentation of concepts and less on examples and concrete applications. The technique: specific item filtering, sorting fragments, dimming fragments. The rule: If preference is “intuitive” Then Select dc: type{Fundamental, Illustration} Sort LoType {Fundamental, Illustration} Expand Fragment LoType: type { Fundamental } Collapse Fragment LoType: type { Illustration } Highlight LoType {Fundamental}

Table 7: adaptation pattern for learner with "sequential" preference

Name:

Sequential learner.

Intent:

addresses the needs of a learner with “sequential” preference

Solution:

uses three dimensions to describe the solution The strategy: the course includes a step-by-step presentation of the content, with a very regular structure, the links to the related advanced LOs are placed at the end of the chapter and the test will be presented at shorter intervals. The technique: sorting fragments, dimming fragments. The rule: If preference is “sequential” Then Select dc: type{Fundamental, Illustration, auxiliary, explanation, interactivity} Sort LoType Advanced LOs{end of the chapter} Dim LoType {AdditionalInfo}

Table 5: Adaptation pattern for a learner with "sensing" preference

Name:

Sensing learner.

Intent:

addresses the needs of a learner with “sensing” preference

Solution:

uses three dimensions to describe the solution The strategy: the course should be focused more on theories, presentation of concepts and less on examples and concrete applications. The technique: specific item filtering, sorting fragments, dimming fragments. The rule: If preference is “sensing” Then Select dc: type{Fundamental, Illustration} Sort LoType {Illustration, Fundamental} Expand Fragment LoType: type { Illustration } Collapse Fragment LoType: type { Fundamental } Highlight LoType {Illustration}

In case of a preference towards global learning, the learner is provided with preview of the topic, the advance concepts are highlighted and information on relationships to relevant topics is provided. Furthermore, exercises at any level of detail

In case of a learner with “active” preference, the interactive LOs such as exercises, simulations, and real problems are strongly recommended, and therefore highlighted and placed before the rest of LOs. On the contrary, in case of a learner whose reflective preference, include less exercises, therefore, the interactive LOs are less recommended and placed after the rest LOs. More formally: Table 8: Adaptation pattern of learner with "active" preference

Name:

Active learner.

Intent:

addresses the needs of an active learner

Solution:

uses three dimensions to describe the solution The strategy: integrate interactive animations, simulations, small games; include many exercises. The technique: specific item fragments, sorting

fragments, dimming fragments. The rule: If preference is “active” Then Select dc: type{Fundamental, Illustration, Auxiliary, Explanation, Interactivity} Sort LoType {Interactivity, Fundamental /Illustration, Auxiliary/Explanation} Expand Fragment LoType: type {Interactivity} Collapse Fragment LoType: type {Fundamental/ Illustration, Auxiliary/ Explanation} Highlight{Interactivity} Table 9: Adaptation pattern for a learner with "reflective" preference

Name:

Reflective learner.

Intent:

addresses the needs of a reflective learner

Solution:

uses three dimensions to describe the solution The strategy: include more lecture-like material, include less exercise and integrate questions that encourage reflection. The technique: specific item fragments, sorting fragments, dimming fragments. The rule: If preference is “reflective” Then Select dc: type{Fundamental, Illustration, Auxiliary, Explanation, Interactivity} Sort LoType {Fundamental/Illustration, Auxiliary/Explanation, Interactivity} Expand Fragment LoType: type {Fundamental/Illustration} Collapse Fragment LoType: type { Auxiliary/ Explanation, Interactivity} Highlight LoType {Fundamental / Illustration} Dim LoType{Interactivity}

IV.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

Learning style is one of the individual differences that play an important role in learning. Literature survey shows that accommodating learning styles in educational systems has a significant influence on the learning process. Among the existing learning styles models, the Felder and Silverman model has been selected. To facilitate the adaptation process, eight patterns have been designed. These patterns allow the adaptive web-based educational system to match automatically each learning style dimension to the appropriate adaptation rules. In the future, we aim to improve the designed pattern by exposing it to the pattern community, as well as to incorporate it in a newly established relevant repository. V. [1] [2]

[3]

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