Towards a semantic infrastructure for context-aware e-learning

Architectural supports, e.g., user context processing and learning content management are essential for facilitating the development and proliferation of context-aware e-learning services. In this paper, we propose a context-aware e-learning infrastructure called Semantic Learning Space. It leverages the Semantic Web technologies to support semantic knowledge representation, systematic context management, interoperable content integration, expressive knowledge query, and adaptive content recommendation. The functionality encapsulated in the infrastructure handles the common, time-consuming and low-level details in learning context processing and content management. The architectural design and enabling technologies are described in detail. Finally, the prototype implementation and preliminary experimental results are presented.