Bridging the Gap between Learning and Teaching by Using Knowledge-Based Systems

• Main Author: Akrawi, Narin Khalida
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media 2011
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-159135; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:isbn:978-91-554-8163-6

The aim of this thesis was to enhance the learning and teaching in educational organizations by using knowledge-based systems. In the last few decades, considerable interest has been exhibited in applying information and communication technologies in educational settings in an attempt to enhance the process of learning and teaching. Surprisingly, however, a modest amount of attention has been directed towards supporting active learning and to accommodating different learning styles. Different knowledge and reasoning strategies have been studied to determine, whether, and how they could satisfy users’ learning styles. Moreover, on the basis of the pedagogical aspects identified, a knowledge-based system was designed to help students to learn about the subject actively and in the way they prefer. Through this system, students are able to choose different representation forms of the domain knowledge and can evaluate their understanding through the differentiated feedback given by the system. In conjunction with the development of new information and communication technologies, the demands on teachers’ didactical skills are also increasing. Adopting a student-centered approach can require teachers to reevaluate their teaching strategies and their leadership style because teacher takes on a different role to that of traditional teaching. Two knowledge-based systems have been designed to provide teachers with differentiated feedback enabling them to reflect on their current teaching strategies and leadership style in an active and individualized way. The result of the research is the design of knowledge-based systems to bridge the gap between learning and teaching using knowledge-based systems.  A conceptual map united all the important pedagogical aspects related to student-centered learning in making it possible to visualize these aspects and the relation between them. This conceptual map makes a meaningful contribution to designer’s understanding of the way the systems support students’ learning and, therefore, can be used as a guide when designing knowledge-based systems for learning. Students and teachers can also benefit from it by obtaining a common understanding of learning and some of its underlying concepts. This kind of awareness can bridge the gap between teaching and learning, and also advance educational organizations in the move towards the adoption of student-centered learning environments.