Supporting information access in e-learning by integrating digital libraries and ontology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the integration of digital library (DL) technologies with ontology-based knowledge representation in providing semantic rich information access (IA) in e-learning. DL technologies have powerful and flexible content management and access functionalities, whereas ontology helps teachers and students to link content materials to their learning objectives. This paper demonstrates that the integration provides a powerful and meaningful e-learning environment. Design/methodology/approach – DiLight is designed as an interactive e-learning system that integrates DL and ontology technologies. By conducting comparative experiments involving DiLight in students’ actual learning process, the authors examined the advantages and limitations of DiLight in e-learning. Findings – Compared to a widely used e-learning environment, DiLight can provide significantly better support for students’ complex IA tasks because DiLight is more useful fo...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: OIR
• Authors: Daqing He, Yefei Peng, Ming Mao, Dan Wu
• Keywords: E-learning, E-learning Environment, OIR 2010, Ontology