An Experimental Study of a Personalized Learning Environment Through Open-Source Software Tools.

Nowadays, students can easily access online course materials at anytime or anywhere. Since the learning initiative is taken by students in an e-Iearning environment, student-centered course materials become more critical. They may be prepared based on an individual student's learning expectation and academic background. In this paper,.a model of personalized learning environment is proposed through 1) learning object design based on elaboration theory and e-learning standards; 2) applying item response theory (IRT) in student ability test; 3) managing course materials by a dynamic conceptual network (DCN); and 4) adopting a user profile to understand students' behaviors. Finally, these building blocks are developed by open-source software tools and integrated into a single system for real-life experimental study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]