Pierre Tchounikine

Using and enhancing a normalized IMS-LD description to support learners in their appropriation of a distance-learning curriculum

The general context of our work is the support that can be proposed to a distance learning student in order to appropriate a curriculum to him. In this paper we explore how the IMS learning design (LD) norm can be used to address this issue. An LD model of a curriculum permits the construction of tools that allow a student to visualize different points of view on the curriculum items, annotate his progression in the activities or build individual projects. We present what can be done with an LD model and how this model can be enhanced to propose more helpful appropriation means.

Mixing human and software agents: a case study

We describe a multiagent approach of the organisation of a collective activity within a pedagogical context. We consider pedagogical situations where students have to explicitly define the articulation of their collective work and then achieve the different tasks they have defined. Our objective is to support these students by taking some of these tasks in charge whilst making them work out such organisation features. For this purpose, we propose to consider that the group of students forms a multi agent system and to introduce software agents that can achieve some of the tasks within this group. This conducts students to tackle the problem in terms of human and software agent coordination. We present how this approach can be conceptualized and modelled using Engestroms triangle and how task delegation can be used as a means to enable students to define the software agents behaviour.

Enhancing a Web-based distance-learning curriculum with dedicated tools

We aim at supporting students involved in a Web-based distance-learning curriculum. For such a purpose, the Saafir system proposes students with different tools that support them in their appropriation of this curriculum, e.g. visualization of the curriculum from different points of view or construction of individual projects by putting different items of the curriculum into relation. In order to allow using Saafir with already existing distance-learning Web sites, the system is designed as an epiphyte system, that can be associated to an existing Web site without modifying it. It is founded on an ontology-based model of the curriculum. We present the importance of supporting students in their definition of individual projects, the epiphyte approach we use, the modeling of the curriculum and the different support tools proposed by Saafir.

An approach to distance learning curriculum appropriation

The work presented aims at supporting distance learning students in their appropriation of a curriculum. We propose an approach that consists in helping students to construct individual projects. We dissociate different aspects (planning, evaluation and regulation) that can be useful for this purpose, propose a technological approach (epiphyte system, ontology-based model) and example of tools currently provided by the Saafir framework.

An architecture to support navigation and propose tips within a dedicated Web site

We present an approach for constructing recommender systems that support a user in his navigation through a given Web site. This approach is based on a proxy-like architecture that intercepts the users requests and the Web site answers, analyzes them in respect to an explicit model of the Web site and some prototypical uses of it and dynamically generates, in a separate window, a tip and/or an access to additional functionalities related to the Web site objective. We illustrate by examples from the construction of a recommender system for a Web site proposed by the French Ministry of Research and Education.

Assisting Analysts in the Construction of Model Based Tracking Recommender Systems

Model based tracking is an approach that allows the construction of recommender systems based on the comparison of the users navigation with predefined prototypic models of navigation. This approach is well adapted for complex Web sites and allows overcoming a certain number of drawbacks from classical approaches. However, it requires an additional task: analysts must build the reference models and their associated tips. In this paper, we present an approach and tools to support the analysts in this task.