AH’04 WORKSHOP
AH 2004: International Conference on Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web-Based Systems
(Eindhoven, The Netherlands, August 23-26, 2004)


Applications of Semantic Web Technologies for Educational Adaptive Hypermedia

SW-EL'04: Semantic Web for E-Learning

SWEL Workshop co-chairs
Lora Aroyo
Darina Dicheva

SWEL AH’04 Session co-chairs
Peter Dolog, Learning Lab Lower Saxony
Martin Wolpers, Learning Lab Lower Saxony


CFP       Important Dates       Submission        Organization       Program       Proceedings

The Semantic Web offers new technologies to the developers of web-based applications aiming at providing more intelligent access and management of the Web information and semantically richer modelling of the applications and their users. An important target for web application developers nowadays is to provide means to unite, as much as possible, their efforts in creating information and knowledge components that are easily accessible and usable by third parties. Within the context of semantic web, there are several hot issues, which allow achieving this reusability, shareability and interoperability among web applications. Conceptualizations (formal taxonomies), ontologies, and the available web standards, such as XML, RDF, XTM, OWL, DAML-S, and RuleML, allow specification of components in a standard way. The notion of web services offers a way to make such components mobile and accessible within the wide sea of web information and applications. The research on adaptive educational hypermedia and web-based educational systems (WBES) traditionally combines research interests and efforts from various fields. Currently, the efforts in the field of semantic web and ontologies play an important role in the development of new methods and types of courseware. Starting with the traditional ITS and going towards web applications, the research on adaptive educational hypermedia strengthens its positions within this context.

Standardization of educational content specification and annotation, course components sequencing paradigms, user modelling and other aspects of educational adaptive hypermedia systems, also play an important role in achieving more flexible and interoperable adaptive hypermedia courseware. There is a significant effort performed by educational standardization institutions (e.g. IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee, CEN/ISSS, IMS, the US ADLnet, CETIS, ARIADNE) to propose standards for various aspects of educational systems, such as IEEE Learning Object Metadata, IMS Learner Information Package Specification, etc.

The research effort in both communities comes together in the attempt to achieve improved interoperability, adaptation and flexibility for single and group users of adaptive educational hypermedia (e.g. instructors, courseware authors and learners). Researchers with interest in various aspects of web-based educational systems will get together at the three SW-EL'04 workshop sessions in order to discuss important issues in this field and present their latest results. Each session will convey a different perspective on the application and role of semantic web technologies and standardization for adaptive educational hypermedia (as well as web-based intelligent tutoring systems). The schedule of the three sessions is the following:

SW-EL’04 will focus on issues related to using concepts, ontologies and semantic web technologies to build adaptive educational hypermedia applications. It will explore the relationships between the main components of adaptive hypermedia systems presented by the existing referenced models, i.e. resource representation, domain model, sequencing representation (relation between resources and concepts), user profiles, and adaptation strategies, and the existing semantic web and educational standards. SWEL’04 follows the successful workshop on Concepts and Ontologies in Web-based Educational Systems, held in conjunctions with ICCE’2002 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Session Topics

The SW-EL'04 workshop session at the AH’04 Conference will focus on the use, engineering and application of semantic web technologies and standards for the needs of adaptive educational hypermedia and discussing issues with respect to using adaptive hypermedia as an e-learning medium and to the various ways of constructing courseware and modelling the learner. The goal of the workshop is threefold:
Appropriate topics for the AH’04 session of SWEL’04 are listed below, however contributors are free to suggest additional ones. The topics can be approached from different perspectives: theoretical, systems engineering, application, case study and system evaluation, etc. All contributions are required to state explicitly in the abstract which topic they are addressing.
Contact
Lora Aroyo
Department of Computing Science  *  Eindhoven University of Technology  *  PO Box 513, 5600 MD Eindhoven  *  The Netherlands
tel: +31 40 2472765  *  fax: +31 40 2463992

Darina Dicheva
Department of Computer Science  *   Winston-Salem State University   *   601 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Winston Salem, N.C. 27110  *  USA
tel: +1 (336) 750-2484   *    fax: +1 (336) 750-2499
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