Adaptivity in E-Learning Systems

Traditional e-learning systems have been, typically, designed for a generic learner, irrespective of individual knowledge, skills and learning styles. In contrast, adaptive e-learning systems can enhance learning by taking into account different learner characteristics and by personalising learning material. Although a large number of systems incorporating learning style have been deployed, there is a lack of comprehensive, comparative evaluations. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by comparing a number of adaptive e-learning systems. It considers three main perspectives: the learner model, the domain model and the adaptation model. A set of criteria is generated for each perspective, and applied to a representative sample of adaptive e-learning systems.