Publications

Learning outcomes are statements that should accompany any type of educational material intended for lifelong learning. These statements deliver important information, which works as an indicator for students in the process of learning. However, in order for this information to be further utilizable within the context of intelligent e-learning applications, a more fine-grained definition and structure should be adopted. Having these in mind, we initially assign a strict and rather technical definition for the notion of learning outcomes, which is fully aligned, though, with their educational purpose. We then propose an ontological model for their representation and classification, which fully adheres to this definition. Our ultimate goal is to provide the mean for exploiting all aspects of knowledge implied by such statements within intelligent applications. To bear out this possibility, we apply our model to a selected piece of educational material provided by the Hellenic Open University.

Java is a very popular programming language and many study programs in Informatics worldwide include courses particularly designed for its learning. It is considered as the best paradigm for introducing students with object-oriented programming and concepts. Considering Javatextquoterights popularity, we initially make an attempt to model this language by using a quite expressing and rich knowledge representation structure, like is ontology. Our aim is to capture the semantics of Java concepts in a way that would render them utilizable by intelligent e-learning applications. Because the construction of an ontology is not an easy task, we follow very specific steps when building the Java ontology. We then take advantage of an already implemented model describing the structure of learning outcomes and combine it with our ontology, with a view to offer a more effective way in organizing the course of Java in the Hellenic Open University.