The Dynamic Content Management System

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The Dynamic Content Management System T. Kristensen 1

Abstract— In the Dynamic Content Management (DCM) system one focuses on removing the tight association between learning material to specific courses. In this system one defines a conceptual atomic unit of knowledge and build material by the organization of these knowledge elements from a repository. The system allows an educator to create an arbitrary collection of knowledge elements, tag them with meta-information as a single unit and link the unit with previously saved and similar aggregations. The DCM system uses idea of Concept Maps to model the relationships between the knowledge elements that can be created by the instructor or the educator. A preliminary implementation of the system as a client-server architecture is described where the server is programmed in Python and the client as a Java application, made available through Java Web Start. Index Terms—DCM, Knowledge Map, Learning Map, Student Map, Client-Server, Python, Java, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS).

I. INTRODUCTION

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Learning has become an important part of our educational life. Different web-based Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been developed to support the learner in the learning process [2]. Previous learning methods were restricted to access and assimilate knowledge. A web-based system is a valuable support to face-to-face communication as well as a way of transmitting the learning material to enhance the students’ own studies. The art of designing good e-learning systems is difficult and is a great challenge of the human mind. The way this is done depends on the culture of the learning culture of each country. The key issues are to facilitate new learning modalities for the younger generations. This is like a self-learning process where previous goals undergo continuously changes. Traditional classroom learning was prior based on behaviouristic learning theories where the learner is the object of assessment [16]. The teacher with necessary knowledge initiates the learning process and ‘transmits’ her knowledge to the learners. Another approach is ‘constructivsm’, where one is focusing on the learner’s abilities to develop her own mental models and learning concepts. This approach has become more and more accepted to be the most relevant paradigm to use to promote learning at students, even at the university level. In the last years we have seen a shift also towards more

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Terje Kristensen is with the Department of Computer Engineering, Bergen University College, Nygaardsgaten 112, N-5020 Bergen, Norway (email: [email protected])

socio-cultural learning theories where the learning is seen as an integrated part of social practice. Focus is here not only on the ‘single learner’, but on the learner activities in a community of practice [18]. The socio cultural learning paradigm is a part of the constructivism in the spirit of Vygotsky [17]. II. BACKGROUND A. Prior systems About ten years ago web based e-learning systems were constructed and used that have had great impact on the development of e-learning systems of today [12]. These systems have all the facilities of a modern e-learning system. However, one major problem was that the all the different educational aspects were hard-coded into the system. Hence, important aspects of an e-learning system, such as its flexibility, reuse of learning content and presentation of learning material were missing. It was then difficult to construct flexible modes of learning because the use of the system has to follow a certain predetermined pattern. The systems that we now are developing in Norway are more flexible and founded on more flexible learning principles. B. it’s learning system it’s learning system is an e-learning system that has been developed in Bergen, Norway (http://www.itsolutions.no ). It has been a great success in the Scandinavian market. Its learning platform is constructed for both schools and universities. The origin of the “it’s learning” system was a student project at Bergen University College in 1999. “it’s learning” has a variety of built-in tools for communication and cooperation such as an internal message system, e-mail, chat, SMS notifications, discussion forums, etc. This offers a lot of possibilities for the instructor of a course. However, on the other hand much of the tools are not necessary to use in a course by an ordinary user. The tools may appear as noise that disturbs the user in a given learning situation. One problem is that the system gives the user too many options. An ordinary user does not need all these options. Another problem is that the graphical layout and navigation are not consistent. This makes it difficult for the users to have a global overview and control of the learning objects [2]. C. The DPG System The Dynamic Presentation Manager (DPG) [9] offers a more flexible platform that can be easily adapted to different learning situations and different types of courses. This is a very important aspect of practically teaching and education

PAPER: 8 since it offers reuse of both presentation patterns and learning content. For instance consider a learning scenario where a teacher would like to replicate the web pages with new content. In the worst case the teacher has to start from scratch and re-implement the web pages with new content. A simple web-based system that could take the new content and create a new representation based on the formatting and the functionality of the existing web pages could overcome this problem. By generating net-based presentations (for example online courses) based on presentation patterns one could solve such a problem. A presentation pattern specifies the pertinent aspects of a presentation: page rendering, the navigation and the requirements for the content it can display, so that a presentation can be generated by supplying the right kind of data. This strategy decouples the content from the formatting, and both the content and the presentation pattern can be reused. This decoupling means that the same content can be used to create other presentations based on different presentation patterns. The same pattern can then be applied to different contents. III. THE DCM MODEL The main goal of the teaching process is to develop knowledge. A methodology to structure and model the learning process is a means to achieve this. One widely used tool for organizing, representing and building knowledge is Concept Map (CM) [5]. Since its introduction there has been extensive research regarding how to use CM to enhance teaching and learning [6]. CM is a tool well suited for representing knowledge structures. However, it does not address the dynamic process of learning. To represent the entire learning process, the Dynamic Content Manager (DCM) model for e-learning was introduced in 2007 at Bergen University College [9]. It makes it possible to create knowledge elements at a finer granularity level to reuse them in various courses. Resources (R), assessments and evaluations (E) are attributed to the knowledge elements, and hence may be imported from existing learning material. The model is used to represent structures for knowledge, learning scenarios and individual students’ learning. These are implemented as Knowledge Map, Learning Map and Student Map. Such an approach promotes adaptive learning, flexibility in the learning process and share and reuse of learning material.. The model provides a flexible tool for teachers who are planning to use other learning scenarios than traditional Learning Management Systems (LMS). Within DCM, the learning resources and progress may be structured and organized to maximize flexibility for both teachers and students to promote tailored learning [3]. A teacher giving a course can divide the learning material into atomic units that may be organized into different maps. The Knowledge Map provides an overview of all the learning resources available to an instructor. The Learning Map is based on these resources, providing a functional overview of a given course and the didactical approach to the material. The

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Student Map monitors each student’s learning progress and provides evaluation and feedback mechanisms. This structure provides an easy-to-use navigation interface for existing learning material. Any course content created is stored in the repository for future reference. As shown in [1], the DCM learning objects may lead to use of these knowledge objects as basic elements, to construct a more elaborated version of CM. An example on how to use these structures, when teaching geometry for teachers, is presented in the next section. In contrast to ordinary education, which is mostly skill- and factbased, teacher education also requires understanding of didactical processes or the meta-knowledge of the given subject. The DCM model is especially suited to learning scenarios, where it is important to create deep learning [14][15]. The evaluation perspective is especially important in teacher education. One has to construct the best learning path for the students through the knowledge space and how to best evaluate their learning outcome. This is the job of the teacher, and she has to do it appropriately to succeed in promoting learning. By using the DCM model we believe one is better able to create a more thoroughly didactical understanding of a given topic. IV. KNOWLEDGE MODELLING All successful transfer of knowledge requires understanding of the concepts within the teaching subject. Knowledge modelling becomes a tool promoting consciousness of the subject in this meta-perspective. A. Organization of knowledge To promote learning one has to discover the inner relationship between the learning components and convey them to the learners. According to the cognitive learning perspective, the goal is to facilitate mental processes which mediate between existing and new knowledge. Within this perspective the focus is on how students understand and solve problems by symbol processing. Information is received through attention and integrated in memory. Furthermore, it is translated into knowledge and integrated into the learner’s cognitive structure for later retrieval. B. Content units In the DCM model knowledge is represented by Content Units (CU), which consist of Learning Resources (R) and Evaluations (E). Constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts, based upon current and past knowledge. Knowledge is closely connected to previous experiences. Learners need to construct their own understanding. The primary role of teaching is to design situations for the learners to promote their creation of the necessary mental constructions. The learner will internalize concepts, rules and general principles which further on can be applied in a real-world context. Knowledge is considered as a constructed entity made by every learner through the learning process [14]. The DCM facilitates learning by constructivism. It has been designed to enhance the functionality of knowledge elements,

PAPER: 8 courses and resources. The changes made to the underlying knowledge elements are then carefully treated by versioning and history tracking. This ensures that a specific course or aggregation of knowledge elements, which the teacher has created, can appear unchanged. She is then able to follow the various revisions made on it. Great emphasis is also placed on the design of knowledge elements to provide seamless addition of external functionalities. In this context the notion of schema, information processing, storage and retrieval are important. Knowledge is considered as abstract symbolic representations. The teacher’s primary role is to transfer knowledge by lecturing and explaining the concepts [4]. C. Knowledge map The basic requirement of the DCM is the knowledge repository, from which knowledge elements may be drawn and organized into a hierarchical structure of the course. This is represented by the Knowledge Map. The CU must be structured and organized in such a way that the teacher actually gets the information she needs to design a course. There must also be a way of adding knowledge to the actual repository. The Knowledge Map provides the overview of the total knowledge in a given learning domain. The map is a graph where the nodes represent content units of the repository. The arrows placed between any two related CU is representing the relations between contents (see fig.1). When someone has created a course, there is a relation between the actual units used. The instructor who creates a new course, can use the arrows to indicate which units that can be of interest. The DCM’s “atomic” units of knowledge make it possible to construct CM-like structures as a tool for both teachers and students. This structure will enable DCM to provide the teacher with a graphical navigation tool to explore the knowledge repository. Such a visual presentation gives the teacher an overview of the resources of the repository and enables her to create the knowledge elements. D. The Knowledge Repository In a specific course the motivation of using a Knowledge Map is to model the dependencies in the learning process. The interconnection between the various knowledge elements defined by many educators can also be used for data mining purposes and for creating better structuring of the knowledge repository. In a specific course the motivation of using a Knowledge Map is to model the dependencies in the learning process. However, these units should not be viewed as imposing requirement on the content selection. The teacher is free to select other nodes and use them as prerequisites, or to create her owns. Fig. 1 displays a sample Knowledge Map consisting of four knowledge units from the geometry domain. A teacher navigating the Knowledge Map would also be interested in the inner structure of the nodes, in order to select the elements she needs when creating the course. The system therefore needs to keep track of this inner structure. The user interface should

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allow for easy expansion of nodes to display the resources and evaluations. V. THE LEARNING PROCESS A Learning Map is a representation of the learning process. The Content Units are selected from the Knowledge Map and expanded to ensure that the Resources and Evaluations become nodes in the graph. Formally, there is a graph homomorphism from the Learning Map to the Knowledge Map. Resources or Evaluations not needed in the course may be omitted. The Evaluations may be weighted to indicate their importance in the grading of the entire course. The Learning Map relations may occur between Content Units or between Resources and Evaluations. Such relations indicate that one element is a prerequisite of another. VI. STUDENT MODELLING The DCM system also supports student modelling. The system defines a simple model of the learner and categorizes her, based on the actual Evaluations. The teacher must often update the category of the learner, based on assessments of the students’ assignments. The DCM has a module where the learner is guided through questions that have been associated with the knowledge elements of the course she is taking. The learner’s category is taken into consideration by a default optional filtering mechanism and provides the learner with questions. A. Student modelling A Student Map is the model of the learning process of an individual student. It displays the Resources and the Content Units that the student has encountered. The most important aspect is probably the Evaluations which show the student’s answers and results. VII.

DCM IN MATHEMATICS

Knowledge modelling is often used to represent learning of mathematics. In this paper we emphasize the use of knowledge modelling, both for learning of mathematics and as a tool to develop meta-knowledge. This is of special importance for teacher students. The students have to make their own conceptual domain models represented as Knowledge and Learning Maps. In geometry, there are many different concepts which are crucial for understanding of a subject. For instance, a symmetry relation may be realized by doing a reflection, rotation and a translation. The symmetry concept may be interpreted at a higher level than these basic concepts. This means that to understand the symmetry concept one has to first understand basic concepts as reflection, rotation and translation as reflected in the knowledge map in fig.1. The activities defined in term of Evaluations in table 1 have no weights. The Evaluations document student activities, which are an important part of the learning process, in addition to grading. By evaluation E 1 – E 4 one may measure the

PAPER: 8 different aspects of knowledge such as facts, skills, metaknowledge or didactical knowledge. The different kinds of Evaluations are connected to the outcomes stated in the syllabus and the curriculum. All these aspects are important to ensure that the student has the desired knowledge to teach mathematics, for instance in Primary School. Table 1. A Sample Content Unit T1: Symmetry Resources Evaluations Aspects R1: Book Chap 3 R2: Origami web program R3: Wiki definition R4: Video of geometrical constructions

E1:Quiz E2: Exercise, ruler/compass E3: Making Knowledge map E4: Creating a course, making Learning Map

Facts Skills Meta-knowledge Didactical knowledge

The Resources given by R 1 –R 4 illustrate some of the learning material presented to the students. To ensure that the students achieve knowledge about facts, practical skills, concept structures and strategies the teacher needs to select adequate resources. Available resources such as text-books and online resources like animations, videos, images and interactive programs, may be selected from the Knowledge Repository. An awareness of choosing the optimal learning material can later be used by the teacher students in their own teaching practice. T2::Reflec

T1:Sym R1: Book

E1: Quiz

R1: Book

E1: Quiz

R2: Web

E2 :

R2: Web

E3: make

R3: Wiki

E3: make

R3: Wiki

E4: make

T3: Trans

T4: : Rotat

R1: Book

E1: Quiz

R1: Book

R2: Wiki

E2 :

R2: Wiki

E1: Quiz

Fig. 1. Extracted Knowledge Map unit displaying different Resources and Evaluations grouped as four CUs.

Fig. 1 displays a sample Knowledge Map consisting of four knowledge units from the geometry domain. A teacher navigating the Knowledge Map would also be interested in the inner structure of the nodes, in order to select the elements she needs when creating the course. The system therefore needs to keep track of this inner structure. A Learning Map of the symmetry concept is presented in Fig 2. The teacher has selected two sources to obtain the factual knowledge which is required to answer the Quiz, given by E 1 . The Student Map in Figure 4 offers an opportunity to monitor the knowledge that the teacher students have acquired. One of the students uses a text-book and the other one a wiki. The educator may evaluate the results of the students based on

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their learning paths. The teachers may get a clear picture of the efficiency of using different approaches to the learning of the Symmetry Concept after some repetitions of the course.

T1: Symmetry R1: Book

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E1: Quiz

R2: Web Program

E2: Exercises

R3: Wiki def.

E3: make CM E4: make LM

Fig.2. A learning Map constructed from the Knowledge Map

The system defines a simple model of the learner and categorizes him, based on the actual Evaluations. The teacher must often update the category of the learner, based on assessments of the students’ assignments. The DCM has a module where the learner is guided through questions that have been associated with the knowledge elements of the course she is taking. We notice in fig. 2 that there exists a disjunctive relation between Evaluation and Resources 1 and 3. The Learning Map has a branching point where each student may choose what resources to take, resulting in two different looking Student Maps. VIII. PRELIMINARY IMPLEMENTATION The architecture consists of two main components, the server and the client. The server is implemented as an HTPP server, exposing its services through a REST type web services API [20]. Each resource on the server can be manipulated through the use of the HTTP “CRUD” methods such as GET, PUT, POST and DELETE. The server can be controlled through an administrative interface. This covers user maintenance and simple object CRUD. Communication between the client and the server is carried out using JSON over HTTP [21]. The GET, PUT and POST methods return objects in JSON notation, while the PUT method also receives parameters in JASON format. At the moment the POST method only receives parameters as attributes or a value. The web service API is controlled by basic http authentication. All requests must supply a user name/password credentials pair. Authentication failure will return a 401 UNATHORIZED status code. For a production type environment a more elaborate authentication scheme such as OAuth may be needed. At the moment the current test server does not implement basic http authentication, but we have selected this as an ad hoc solutions. The client is often denoted as the structure editor and lets the user access the server through a graphical interface. On the server side the model reflects the DCM structure. The server is prototyped using Django [22], a high-level Python based web framework allowing for rapid

PAPER: 8 implementation of the model design. Using Django yields several ‘freebies’ in the prototyping scenario. Should the need for a more comprehensive solution arise, the server can be re-implemented in Java, .NET or a similar framework without the need for the client to be rewritten. The following software is required to run the server • Python 2.5 or higher, but not 3.0 • Django version 02.2 was used (http://bitbucket.org/jespern/djangopiston /wiki/Home) • Apache or a similar front end [23]

Fig. 1 shows the model with simple prerequisites pointers. In the future the pointers may be augmented to take type constructs (TODO). To summarize a content unit can have 0 or more ContentUnitMembers. A ContentUnit can be found in several learning maps. In addition, all ContentUnits and graphElements can reference a Learning Map. The Rest web API closely reflects the model.

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The client is implemented as a Java application which is made available through Java Web Start. It will present the model to the user in a diagrammatic fashion through the use of the JGraph visualization library. The client will be responsible for enforcing restrictions on the model, i.e which objects the user will be permitted to change, read and update, or delete. In addition to the JGraph library, two other Java libraries are needed for execution: • Gson4 for JSON serialization and de-serialization of Java objects • HttpComponents for easy communication over http [23] All the software which is used is released under various compatible FOSS licenses. The source code of this pilot project consist at the moment of two Eclipse projects, Java for the client and PyDev for the server. To fully utilize the projects in Eclipse the JUnit4 and the PyDev plug-ins are required . No automated build exits at this time. A. User stories This is at the moment just a small, preliminary and unordered set of user stories applicable to the software . Some of them are derived from [1]. Other stories will be added when needed or becoming useful. Not all of them are completed at the moment. User story 1 The user can choose from several Learning Maps and add a new content Unit to a Learning Map. The implemented Learning Map is represented as a tabbed control. User story 2 The user can add a Resource or an Evaluation to a Content Unit. A resource will be given a type and based on this type, the Content Editor for the resource will be invoked. For instance, editing an HTML document containing text and pictures Resource and Evaluation will be added, but no content editing yet.

Fig. 3. Preliminary implementation of the DCM model.

The following resources are exposed through the piston: • The Knowledge Map • Learning Maps • Students Maps • Evaluation resources • Content_types • Content units • Prerequisites All are contained in the address space http:///api/, and moving this should be easy. Each resource will accept the GET, PUT, POS or DELETE. Other verbs can also be added in the address space if needed, e.g. http:///api/content_units/3

User story 3 The user can add one element (Resource or Evaluation) as a Prerequisite to another. The following restrictions apply: • A Content Unit may not have Prerequisites inside Itself • An Evaluation may only require Resources or Evaluation from within its own Content Unit • There may be no cyclic mappings User story 4 The user can add weights to an Evaluation

User story 5 The user can create a new Learning Map from the contents of the Knowledge Map, while preserving the Content Units. No prerequisite arrows are copied. This is implemented.

PAPER: 8 User story 6 The user can display a “meta view” of the prerequisites while viewing the Knowledge Map. These prerequisites map between Content Units rather than Resources and/or Evaluations. This user story has also been implemented, but may be altered to a view / no view mode selector. User story 7 Each student in the course is assigned a Student Map. This is a mapping from the content units in the Learning Map to those of the different Student Maps which are updated as the students are progressing through the course. Arrows are now ignored . Due to the possibility of the branching paths in the Learning Map, the Student Maps may differ from each other and contain fewer nodes than in the learning Map. While we currently are ignoring arrows in the Student Map, they can be useful later on. User story 8 The user owns a set of Knowledge Maps, each associated with a course. B. The Package hierarchy The java client is centered on the super class no.hib.dcm.model.IDPointer. All model classes inherit from this class, and this simple super class in cooperation the Gson serializer/deserializer facilitates easy retrieval and creation of the model instances on the server. no.dcm.hib is the root level of the package. It contains the main application window, the settings class and an auxiliary username/password dialog. no.hib.dcm.model is the main model package. The key class is, as previously stated, the IDPointer class. In conjunction with the IDPlaceholder class this class allows for easy serialization and deserialization of the model objects using @Expose annotations in the model classes. no.hib.dcm.jgraphmodel. This package couples the functionality of JGraph with that of the model. The class IDPointerGraphManager serves as a starting point for the main application window for adding a map (Learning Map or a Knowledge Map) to the JGraph graph. These classes also hold the references to the JGraph stylesheets used for rendering . no.hib.dcm.model.factories. This package constains functionality for serializing and de serializing IDPointer objects. The main class is IDPointerCRUD which couples together the server communication with the serializing functionality (IDPointerJSONExtractor/IDPointerJSONFactory). no.hib.dcm.model.factories.http. The package contains the class responsible for communicating with the http server. no.hib.dcm.mxgraph. This package contains several enhancements and changes to the JGraph class hierarchy. The class DCMGraph contains the hardcoded stylesheets for the application. Sub-packages contain images and layout routines for the graph. no.hib.dcm.test/no.hib.dcm.test.integration. The packages contain JUnit tests, mainly focusing on the model classes. no.hib.dcm.utility. It consists of different utility classes.

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no.hib.dcm.IDPointerEditors. This package contains classes that implement editors of the model classes. The main functionality can be found in the class IDPointerEditor which the other editors inherit. IX. DISCUSSION One key issue of the DCM model is that different learning aspects may be emphasized. In the course designed for teacher students the learning outcome could be divided into factual, skill-based, meta- and didactical knowledge. In geometry factual knowledge is theoretical knowledge about formulae, names and symbols. Skill-based knowledge is practical use of a procedure or to design a solution of a problem. In geometry, for instance, it is crucial to have practical skills of using ruler and compass. To be a good teacher one also needs to have knowledge of the didactics of mathematics and metaknowledge. Meta-knowledge is crucial knowledge for planning, modelling, learning and modification of domain-knowledge. This implies that the students have to be conscious about their own thinking about mathematics. It is important that teacher students have a conscious attitude to their own learning process. They must be able to reflect upon their “doings” to develop a solid basis for practicing teaching. To achieve resilient knowledge it is essential for the students to get awareness about their own possible learning outcome and their teaching practice. By resilient knowledge we mean knowledge that is resistant to cultural influences. This kind of knowledge distinguishes it from the traditional way of considering learning. For teachers it is important to develop a strong conceptual understanding of the problem domain to be able to understand the thinking of individual students. This is necessary to give the students problems which are suited to their cognitive level. However, the students learn to model their own knowledge structures by using different graphical techniques. Such graphs may be used by the students to reflect upon their knowledge acquisition. The students document their learning progress by monitoring their Student Maps. To be a good teacher it is important to be conscious about your own knowledge. If you are not able to express knowledge to yourself, how can you then be able to explain it to your students? It is difficult to evaluate different aspects of knowledge. One often considers only the aspect of knowledge which fits to the framework of the learning outcomes. The evaluation of other aspects can be done in different ways. One possibility is a multiple-choice quiz to evaluate factual knowledge. To evaluate skills one has to make a practical test where the students must carry out a construction by compass and ruler. In an e-learning scenario this may, for instance, be done by using interactive ICT-tools. The students have to demonstrate connection between practical skills and knowledge structure by creating Knowledge Maps. However, the Evaluation of their pedagogical and didactical knowledge must be done in another way. One may let them write about their own learning process where one is reflecting upon the connection between different aspects of the subject.

PAPER: 8 The different types of assignments may be weighted differently. The students will then know what kind of knowledge that is emphasized in a course. Such kind of assessment is different from the traditional practice in Norwegian education. In the DCM model a student will be assessed in a more comprehensive way by considering his own knowledge construction and by strengthen his meta-cognitive understanding. This is one important aspect of the DCM approach. By practical experience one develops conceptual images that can be expressed in Knowledge Maps. Such a language of concepts may be used to transfer “internalized knowledge” to the learning society. X. CONCLUSION AND FURTHER WORK In this paper we have used a graph based approach, DCM, to model the learning process of students in geometry. The paper illustrates how the Knowledge Map is used to systematize the content of a course. Different kinds of resources and ways of evaluating them are demonstrated. The approach is flexible in respect to organising the content of a course. The content includes learning resources, practical tasks and evaluations. In teacher education one uses special ways of Evaluation, since one has to consider the different aspects of knowledge. The Learning Map is created by the teacher to design a course. It describes a selected scenario as a path through the content. The actual Learning Map may vary between different teachers, even for courses with the same content and syllabus. This is due to the individual understanding of each teacher. The Student Map is created by the system, based on the results and weights of the Evaluations. It represents a model of the learning progress of individual students taking the course. The Student Map may be used by the educator to monitor the learning progress. In teacher education the students also need to create their own maps to describe their conceptual understanding of the subject and to create their own teaching scenarios. In this way the students gain experience with mathematical (Meta) modelling. By using a system as DCM, based on knowledge Map, Learning Map and Student Map, one adapts the e-learning system to the learning process. This is in contrast to traditional Learning Management Systems where the learning scenario has to be fitted to the system In the DCM project we want to establish an e-learning platform that separates the learning platform from different courses. This will enhance more adaptive learning where the students may solve problems which are more suited to their knowledge level. We believe that this will also introduce more flexibility in the learning process where the students can assimilate the learning content in many different ways. This is implemented by using different Concept Maps for the syllabus. Such a platform will also contribute to reuse and share of the learning material. A pilot implementation of the DCM project has been described in the paper. The implementation is based on a client/server model where the server has been programmed in Python and the client in Java. The server is prototyped using

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Django, a high-level Python based web framework allowing for rapid implementation of the model design. The client is implemented as a Java application made available through Java Web Start. The model is presented to the user in a diagrammatic fashion through the use of the JGraph visualization library. The client will be responsible for enforcing restrictions on the model, i.e which objects the user will be permitted to change, read and update, or delete. Some user stories are also given in the paper, not all of them have been implemented yet. By introducing software agents [11] in the system we may be able to construct an even more intelligent and flexible e-learning system. By introducing user profile agents in the system collaborating with other agents in the system one may get the best learning material and best exercises for the students [19]. The DCM system is well suited to handle agent based learning and adapt the learning scenario to different kind of users and their knowledge level. From a software design perspective the motivation for constructing a Multi-Agent (MAS) is that such a software model will enhance the quality of the system, making it more easy to maintain, and more portable, replicable and scalable. The multiple agents of the system can collaborate to achieve different goal by • Using an Agent based Communication Language (ACL) messages • Letting the agents know how to talk about the domain • Describing the domain by an Ontology by using for instance Protégé The attributes of such a MAS system can be described as • A more flexible and extensible software system • A more fault tolerance system which are robustness • Scalability • Agents as software paradigms to model e-learning The DCM model may also be implemented on a tablet. This is something we just have started to think of. We want to develop an application in a mobile (tablet) learning environment based on the Android operating system (OS). The application will be based on java and Android Honeycomb framework. The user group for such a system is planned to be different kinds of users in medical education. We are currently working on these directions of the DCM system. Some master students have already started to program these software paradigms, as part of their master thesis. REFERENCES [1]

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S. Eide, T. Kristensen, Y. Lamo. A “Model for Dynamic Content Based E-learning system,”.in ACM Proceedings EATIS, Aracaju, Brazil, 2008. M.F.,Fernadez, D., Florescu, A.Y, Levy, D., Suciu. “Cathing the Boat with Strudel. Experiences with a Web-Site Management System” in Proceedings of SIGMOD Conference, pp 227-263, 1998. J.G. Greeno, ,A. Collins, L.B, Resnick. “Cognition and Learning,”in DC Berline, R., Clafee, C.Robert (eds). Handbook of Educational Psychology, New York, Macmillan library Reference, USA 1996. H., Gardener. Frames of mind. The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books, 1993.

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TERJE KRISTENSEN was born in Bergen, Norway. He was educated as an applied mathematician from the University of Bergen, Norway in 1975. In addition he has degrees in computer science and physics from the same university. Today he is a professor in computer science and mathematics at Bergen University College. He has been a project leader of many projects of computer science in the Bergen region of Norway, specifically in the field of design and practice of e-learning systems. He has also published lots of international papers and is an author of 9 books in computer science. He has been session chair and member of many different program committees of international conferences in computer science. His special interests are design of e-learning systems, neural networks, machine learning, multi-agent systems and simulation. He is also the founder of three companies in Norway and is today director of the company Pattern Solutions ltd. in Norway (http://www.patternsolutions.no) which is developing pattern

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recognition and datamining applications in many different fields, for instance in the field of biotechnology.