Learning about the learner : deducing learner characteristics from their interaction with e-learning tools

Abstract

The study seeks to explore how e-learning is tackled by learners and thus investigate how hypermedia tools help to identify specific learner characteristics. Such characteristics can be detected by means of assessing the manner in which adult learners perform in a number of given e-learning tools. The different navigating and learning strategies of individual learners will be observed. In this way a knowledge acquisition strategic pattern can be established. Unlike other traditional teaching and learning tools, where much of this information tends to be lost within the pedagogical process, e-learning can thus be seen under the light of its potential to acquire knowledge of every learner on an individual basis. Such an asset gives the possibility to collect information about the learner not only in the traditional manner of assessments, but also through: 1. through the way the users interacts with the e-learning tool facilities; 2. through the order in which the user navigated through the material presented by the tool. Hence, the uniqueness of hypermedia lies in the fact that it recognises that people learn in different but interwoven ways.