Peter Toth

Adaptive online learning environment and web usage mining

The realization of an adaptive online learning environment presupposes the full consideration of the existing knowledge of the individual and their learning characteristics both in the area of course as well as learning management. Therefore during the learning process diagnostic and formative control, evaluation and assessment, with web usage mining as an efficient means, has a special significance. Educational technology and multimedia, a course in technical teacher training, formed the basis of the study. By the application of web mining methods we were trying to find an answer to the question whether any conclusions from the patterns of online learning activities were to be drawn as to preferred learning characteristics, methods and strategies and also whether the major variables of online learning behavior were possible to define.

Self-regulated learning and learning style — A longitudinal research in the area of vocational education

A common feature of theories of learning style is that students are classified according to their cognitive characteristics along one- or multi-dimensional bipolar (usually cognitive) scales. Conclusions as to the efficient learning styles, forms and means of the student may be drawn from the preferred strategies related to learning style. Teaching strategies which produce the most preferred learning strategies can also be specified, and these in turn serve as a starting point for designing the learning environment. The common feature of all learning style theories is that only certain cognitive individual characteristics are integrated into their system, which, however, reduces to a great extent the scope of validity of the given approach. From this it also obviously follows that neither theory is capable of typifying all the learning characteristics of the individual in the proper way and in proper detail. In our paper an attempt is made to explore the learning characteristics of vocational school students in Budapest, applying a version of Kolbs Learning Style Inventory.