Culturally-based Adaptive Learning and Concept Analytics to Guide Educational Website Content Integration

Abstract

In modem learning environments, the lecturer or educational designer is often confronted with multi-national student cohorts, requiring special consideration regarding language, cultural norms and taboos, religion, and ethics. Through a somewhat provocative example we demonstrate that taking such factors into account can be essential to avoid embarrassment and harm to individual learners’ cultural sensibilities and, thus, provide the motivation for finding a solution using a specially designed feature, known as adaptive learning paths, for implementation in Learning Management Systems (LMS). Managing cultural conflicts is achievable by a twofold process. First, a learner profile must be created, in which the specific cultural parameters can be recorded. According to the learner profile, a set of content filter tags can be assigned to the learning path for the relevant students. Example content filter tags may be “no sex” or “nudity ok, but not combined with religion”. Second, the LMS must have the functionality to select and present content based on the content filter tags. The design of learning material is presented via a meta-data based repository of learning objects that permits the adaptation of learning paths according to learner profiles, which include the cultural sensibilities in addition to prior knowledge and learning and categorized learning content - a detailed example is given.