The Ecological Approach to the Design of E-Learning Environments: Purpose-based Capture and Use of Information About Learners

Abstract

Abstract: The semantic web movement has grown around the need to add semantics to the web in order to make it more usable by people and by information systems. In this paper I argue that even more important than semantics is pragmatics; that is, to really enhance web usability it is critical to capture and react to aspects of the end use context. Most centrally, to make the web truly responsive to human needs, we need to understand the "users" of the web and their purposes for using it. In this paper I elaborate this argument in the context of of e-learning systems. I propose an approach to the design of e-learning systems that I call the ecological approach. Moving from the open web to repositories of learning objects, I show how the ecological approach shows promise not only to allow information about learners actual interactions with learning objects to be naturally captured but also to allow it to be used in a multitude of ways to support learners and teachers in achieving their goals. In a phrase, the approach involves attaching models of learners to the learning objects they interact with, and then mining these models for patterns that are useful for various purposes. The ecological approach turns out to be highly suited to e-learning applications. It also has interesting implications for e-learning research, and perhaps even for research directions for semantic web research.

Invited Commentary: Ramondt, L., Smith, T and Bradshaw, P. (2004) Commentary on: McCalla, G. (2004). The Ecological Approach to the Design of E-Learning Environments: Purpose-based Capture and Use of Information About Learners [PDF]

Editors: Terry Anderson and Denise Whitelock.