Effects of the ISIS Recommender System for Navigation Support in Self-Organized Learning Networks

Drachsler, H., Hummel, H. G. K., Van den Berg, B., Eshuis, J., Waterink, W., Nadolski, R., Berlanga, A., Boers, N., & Koper, R. (2008). Effects of the ISIS Recommender System for Navigation Support in Self-Organized Learning Networks. In M. Kalz, R. Koper, V. Hornung-Prähauser & M. Luckmann (Eds.). Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Technology Support for Self-Organized Learners (TSSOL08) in conjunction with 4th Edumedia Conference 2008 Self-organised learning in the interactive Web – Changing learning culture? (pp. 106-124). June, 2-3, 2008, Salzburg, Austria: CEUR Workshop Proceedings. Available at http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-349The need to support users of the Internet with the selection of information is becoming more important. Learners in complex, self-organising Learning Networks have similar problems and need guidance to find and select most suitable learning activities, in order to attain their lifelong learning goals in the most efficient way. Several research questions regarding efficiency and effectiveness deal with adequate navigation support through recommender systems. To answer some of these questions an experiment was set up within an Introduction Psychology course of the Open University of the Netherlands. Around 250 students participated in this study and were monitored over an experimental period of four months. All were provided the same course materials, but only half of them were supported with a personalized recommender system. This study examined the effects of the navigation support on the completion of learning activities (effectiveness), needed time to comply them (efficiency), actual use of and satisfaction with the system, and the variety of learning paths. The recommender system positively influenced all measures, by having significant effects on efficiency, satisfaction and variety.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org