Using Web Services for Personalised Web-based Learning

This paper describes a multi-agent, personalised learning system operating over the Web. The system is called Web F-SMILE and is meant to help novice users learn how to manipulate the file store of their personal computer. In order to provide adaptive help and tutoring, Web F-SMILE has assigned an agent to constantly observe the user and collect information about him/her. This information is maintained centrally on a Learner Modelling Server. In this way, each learner model is available to any client application that requests it. The agents of the client applications interact with the Learner Modelling Server through Web Services. The main characteristic of Web Services is that they interact with the applications that invoke them, using web standards. Basing learner modelling on web standards has the advantage of enabling the dynamic integration of applications distributed over the Internet, independently of their underlying platforms.