Adaptive Technologies

Adaptive, intelligent hypermedia

Adaptive, intelligent hypermedia, is an area of research that aims to enhance the functionality of hypermedia systems such as the World Wide Web by making the user interaction process personalisable. The approach taken is to endow hypermedia systems with personalisation and machine learning adaptation features, which may be initiated by the users or, by the system itself. These features utilise knowledge provided by (or captured about) specific users to intelligently tailor the information and the links presented to users. By applying the knowledge they amass, such systems can support users in navigating to information by limiting the options for traversal to information units, suggesting relevant links to follow and providing additional information on links and information units. Adaptive, intelligent hypermedia systems are assumed to be useful in knowledge acquisition activities such as learning, where users have different information-seeking goals, histories and preferences. Research undertaken has led to the several journal publications and the first published formal model and language specification for personalisable, adaptive hypermedia.

Personalisation of advanced learning technologies

Personalisation of advanced learning technologies is an area of research that focuses on ownership transfer via personalisation as a value-adding strategy for advanced learning technology. This research aims to enhance interactive learning systems with features that enable the personalisation of the interactions between users and electronic learning materials such as hyper-documents. Students perform many personalisation actions when interacting with paper-based learning materials including: selective reading; annotation; content insertion and deletion and book marking. Performing these actions on electronic learning materials is difficult because the student often has little or no means of claiming ownership of the material or of personalising it. Research conducted has resulted in a framework and system for the personalisation of hyper-documents being devised. This framework and associated system aims to make available to students features that allow them to interact with hyperdocuments in a manner much closer to that of owners of paper-based ones, while still benefiting from the ability to traverse contextual links and to exploit the computational environment in which the material is embedded.