Using learning styles for dynamic group formation in adaptive collaborative hypermedia systems

Abstract

Collaborative tools have been used in educational contexts for supporting communication and collaboration among students, discussions about topics, cooperative problem resolution, knowledge sharing and collaborative knowledge construction. A proper use of these tools reduces student isolation in web-based courses and facilitates the development of personal and social skills. At the same time, it is generally assented that learning styles are the preferences of students regarding to how they learn. It is desirable that a web-based instructional system includes information about the student learning style to optimally adapt the whole course to the individual characteristics of the students. Due to the benefits of the use of learning styles in adaptive hypermedia systems and the benefits of collaboration, we propose the use of learning styles to automatically adapt collaborative activities in web-based systems. Learning styles can be taken into account by proposing or discouraging collaborative activities, grouping students and choosing the most suitable statement of the problem and collaborative tools for each group of students.