LPMO: An Ontology for Learning Problems

A. Nestoras, S. Demetriadis, N. Bassiliades, “LPMO: An Ontology for Learning Problems”, 3rd Balkan Conference in Informatics (BCI'2007), to be presented, 27-29 Sep. 2007, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2007.

3rd Balkan Conference in Informatics (BCI'2007), to be presented, 27-29 Sep. 2007, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2007.

learning problem, problem-based learning, ontology, well-structured problem, ill-structured problem.

This work presents the LPMO (Learning Problems Modeling Ontology), an ontology for the domain of learning problems that models the types of problems learners are faced with, their most important dimensions (such as complexity, structure and abstractness), the types of their representations and solutions and also the learner’s skills required to solve them. In general, the proposed ontology is an effort to formalize the domain of learning problems in order to enable its representation in a machine-processable way. Developing the ontology is a first step towards building adaptive and interoperable web-based environments for problem-based learning, which can support a variety of learners in a variety of problem-solving tasks. The paper presents the key aspects of the domain and the proposed ontology and it further explores how the ontology can be used in technology-enhanced learning environments that store, manage and share problem-based learning information concerning different kinds of learning problems and their instantiations.