Designing E-Course Navigation

Abstract

In the design of the e-course learning process, it is proposed to use the concept of a navigation model. This model provides convenient and didactically based navigation through the educational material of the course. The work is based on the recent research of the authors on the structuring of educational content in the form of an e-course content model, ordered in the form of a hierarchical structure of the ontologies of learning elements that make up the course. The navigation model concept includes a set of matrices of relations of order and logical coherence of learning elements and corresponding to these matrices of orgraphs of the sequence of study and logical coherence of fragments of educational content. The navigation model answers two important questions of designing an electronic course: 1) what should be the didactically rational sequence of studying the learning elements in the course that is being created; 2) what logical connections should be established between the individual learning elements of the course in order to ensure convenient and didactically based navigation of the course. The mathematical substantiation of the navigation model is given, its properties are investigated, and integral characteristics are introduced. The use of the e-course navigation model helps to: determine and visually represent a rational sequence of studying the educational material, as well as the logical reference links between its various fragments; provide effective assistance to students in navigating the course; analyze and compare different educational materials, assess the level of didactic significance of various learning elements; minimize the complexity of preparing exercises for training and control tests, and the complexity of training and control procedures for e-learning. The concept of a navigation model complies with the international e-learning standards SCORM and IMS, complements them with specific algorithms for aggregating learning objects (SCOs) into e-courses, and assists students in learning them. The mathematical substantiation of the navigation model makes it possible to automate the design of e-courses.