The goal of the semantic web is to facilitate the exchange of meaningful information in a form that is easy for machines to process. The goal of an e-learning system is to support the learning process by providing meaningful information for students in a form that best suits them. Natural synergies between these two areas have led to a surge in the feasibility of user modelling and intelligent tutoring systems, where computer systems can understand a learner, and help guide them through the learning process. The question arises then; with deep meaningful information being shared about learners, who is protecting the privacy rights and desires of the learner? This paper provides an investigation of this question, and outlines approaches that are being undertaken to integrate privacy into our current semantic web e-learning framework.
Lori Kettel, Christopher A. Brooks, Jim E. Greer