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Real users, real results: examining the limitations of learning styles within AEH

Published: 10 September 2007 Publication History

Abstract

This paper examines the current state of AEH (adaptive educational hypermedia) research into explicit learning style modelling for user personalisation. It addresses the problem of non-naïve test subjects, who are often in user trials, thus contributing to experimental bias. Instead, the authors suggest using real people, i.e. users with a range of backgrounds and abilities, in order to gain a truer insight into evidence-based research.
We report on a study carried out with No statistically significant differences were found between experimental groups, learning style preferences or learning environments. We discuss the significance of this, and then critically analyse the use of learning styles in relation to this study and also in the wider context.real users: around 80 children at a UK primary school. The study investigated sequential and global learning styles as a personalisation mechanism in an AEH system. The user trial involved matching and mismatching users and learning environments to see if learning improved. The AEH system used by the children was DEUS, a new e-learning platform that is conceptually similar to WHURLE, an AEH that also used learning styles as its user model.
No statistically significant differences were found between experimental groups, learning style preferences or learning environments. We discuss the significance of this, and then critically analyse the use of learning styles in relation to this study and also in the wider context.

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cover image ACM Conferences
HT '07: Proceedings of the eighteenth conference on Hypertext and hypermedia
September 2007
240 pages
ISBN:9781595938206
DOI:10.1145/1286240
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 10 September 2007

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Author Tags

  1. DEUS
  2. adaptive educational hypermedia
  3. learning styles
  4. real users
  5. user modelling
  6. user trials

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HT07
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HT07: 18th Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia
September 10 - 12, 2007
Manchester, UK

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Overall Acceptance Rate 378 of 1,158 submissions, 33%

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  • (2018)ADAPTATION OF THE FELDER-SOLOMAN INDEX OF LEARNING STYLES (ILS) INTO TURKISH AND AN ASSESSMENT OF ITS MEASUREMENT QUALITYFELDER-SOLOMAN ÖĞRENME STİLLERİ ENVANTERİ (ÖSE)’NİN TÜRKÇE’YE UYARLANMASI VE ÖLÇÜM KALİTESİNİN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİDokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi10.16953/deusosbil.33276320:4(711-736)Online publication date: 26-Dec-2018
  • (2017)Adaptive Educational Hypermedia SystemsProceedings of the 2nd international Conference on Big Data, Cloud and Applications10.1145/3090354.3090448(1-8)Online publication date: 29-Mar-2017
  • (2017)Learning styles: Considerations for technology enhanced item designBritish Journal of Educational Technology10.1111/bjet.1255649:3(574-583)Online publication date: 15-Mar-2017
  • (2016)An Adaptive E-Learning System based on Student's Learning StylesInternational Journal of Distance Education Technologies10.4018/IJDET.201607010314:3(34-51)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2016
  • (2015)Educational crowdsourcing to support the learning of computer programmingResearch and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning10.1186/s41039-015-0011-310:1Online publication date: 21-Jul-2015
  • (2015)Individualization for Education at Scale: MIIC Design and Preliminary EvaluationIEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies10.1109/TLT.2014.23706358:1(136-148)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2015
  • (2014)The ethical and social implications of personalization technologies for e-learningInformation and Management10.1016/j.im.2014.04.00351:6(819-832)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2014
  • (2013)Assessing the Impact of Web-Based Technology on Learning Styles in EducationProceedings of the 2013 Sixth International Conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering10.1109/DeSE.2013.68(348-353)Online publication date: 16-Dec-2013
  • (2013)Design and development of an innovative individualized adaptive and intelligent e-learning system for teaching-learning of probability unitExpert Systems with Applications: An International Journal10.1016/j.eswa.2012.12.00840:8(2914-2940)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2013
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