Models and methodologies applied to e-learning

Users Profiling through models able to describe:
- the competences on concepts relating to various disciplines
- the didactic preferences (concerning duration of the didactic units, interactive level, didactic approach, media typology, etc.)

Domains modelling through ontologies, namely graphs able to describe concepts and relations between them. Intelligent agents able to update and evaluate the users’ profiles.

Such competence may be effectively used in the realisation of e-learning platforms, in which the strategies and the didactic path are dynamically personalised to conform the speed of every single individual exploiting it.



The Soft computing

The Soft computing differs from the conventional (hard) computing since it accepts inaccuracies, uncertainties, partial truths. This makes it particularly close to the way of reasoning proper of the human mind and therefore represents a set number of technologies effective for the automatic resolution of typically human nature problems.

The main active research lines in the framework of soft computing concern such models based on:
- Fuzzy Logics
- Neural Networks
- Evolution Algorithms
- Intelligent Agents
- Expert Systems
- CBR, Case Based Reasoning applied to problems of:
- Control
- Recognition and classification
- Forecast
- Simulation
- Diagnostics
- Optimization
- Support to decisions



Interoperability and e-learning standards

- IMS-LOM for metadata, namely for the formal description of didactic resources
- IMS-QTI for the user’s competences evaluation tests
- SHOE and DAML+OIL for the ontologies, namely for the description of domains, concepts and the relations between them
- SCORM and IMS-CP for the course tailoring
- IMS-LIP for the users’ profiles




Technologies and development environments

- Environment Technologies: Microsoft.NET (C#, ASP.NET, ADO.NET), J2EE (Java, JSP, Servlet, JDBC)
- Database management system: Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL
- Development environments: Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Studio.NET, Visual Age for Java
- Web run-time environment: IIS, Apache, Tomcat
- Other Microsoft technologies: MSMQ, Active Directory, Visual Basic 6.0, VBScript, Jscript, ASP
- Front-end web based technologies: HTML, DHTML and software such as Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Dreamweaver
- Interoperability: XML, XSD, XSLT and tools as XMLSpy



Business process modelling

Representation models of business structures adaptable to the every organisation based on:
- Individualisation and structuring of business processes and activities composing them
- Distribution of business costs on activities, processes and relating outputs (products/services)
- Configuration of business representative models for comparative analysis

Such competences are employed to:
- Carry out an immediate evaluation of the strategic decisions ( What-if analysis) through simulation mechanisms
- Support the operational control of the firm’s resources