A CAL Wizard

Abstract

My research consists of the design and implementation of an automated student-centred learning environment. The educational philosophy behind this work is that CAL should be interactive, supportive, customisable and adaptive to the student's learning process. My priorities are that CAL should foster transferable skills such as critical thinking and independent learning, and not just be a subject dependent teaching aid. My proposal is that the student is not merely a passive reciepent of teaching material, but an active participant in the organisation of their learning process. My specification for the software functionality is that it facilitates continuous individual student profiling, continuous formative assessment, student peer communication and support, and teacher monitoring and intervention. The system will use MySQL as its database, JSP for the web front end, and Java for other additional programming.

The current state of my work is conducting background research into CAL software characteristics so that I can make sure I have sufficient concrete role models. Some learning tools such as ELM, Whurle, and NetCoach have embedded an excellent idea of adaptation. Designing and modeling the system would be the next stage following an idea of unscoped knowledge border. The system has active student participation in that their feedback directly contributes to future system development.