Design and evaluation of an adaptive framework for virtual learning environments

Abstract

Traditional virtual learning environments may not always be suitable as they overlook the diverse requirements of students and are designed generally to support certain learning activities. Adaptivity is often proposed as a promising solution to overcome that limitation. However, it is still challenging to find the proper way to design such systems in order to adapt learning material in accordance with the students' characteristics. This paper, therefore, provides an adaptive framework to design different instances of adaptive virtual learning environments. An implementation based on the proposed framework resulting in an adaptive virtual learning environment is also presented. The adaptive environment incorporates learning style and student performance. These two student characteristics are used to produce personalized learning paths as the main adaptive feature. An illustrative example is also offered to highlight how the framework can be used and implemented. The paper also presents an evaluation of the developed adaptive virtual learning environment in terms of perceived usefulness and learning engagement. A controlled experiment was managed with seventy-five participants in a learning environment. The results indicate that the adaptive virtual learning environment can be better to support students in terms of their perception and better in engaging them in the learning process than when they interact with a non-adaptive version. The framework can be valuable as a foundation in designing such systems and in enhancing future adaptive online-learning research. Future directions of research are also highlighted.