A modified ant colony algorithm for personalized learning path construction

Abstract

An e-learning system offering a personalised learning path will be vastly appealing to the learners. Adaptive techniques when employed in e-learning can sustain the interest and motivation of the learners and help them to complete the enrolled courses successfully. In addition, it would improve the ir performance and thus, enhance the overall learning experience. Personalisation takes into consideration the characteristics of the individual learner and the diversity in his/her needs. The main challenge is finding a match between these individual characteristics and the sequence of the learning content. It is a complex task to implement as it involves selection of the appropriate material from a vast amount of the available learning materials. It is a challenge to perform this process manually as it requires both technical savvy and pedagogical skills. In this paper, a stigmergy model is proposed, which was applied to build a customised learning path. The aim was to provide personalisation that satisfied the needs of an individual in a widely heterogeneous e-learning environment. Compared with the traditional teaching method, this tailored learning path, generated using the proposed approach, shows promise and was found to enhance the performance of the learners.