PhD Thesis

Models and Tools for Usage-based e-Learning Document Reengineering (University of Bejaia - Algeria, 2019)

Supervisor: Pr. Yannick Prié & Dr. Benoît Encelle

Providing high-quality content is of utmost importance to drive successful reading. However, designing documents that are received the way the author intends has always been difficult, and the digital world increases this difficulty by multiplying the possibilities related to mixed media and interactivity. This compels authors to continuously review the delivered content to meet readers’ needs. Yet, it remains challenging for them to detect the comprehension barriers that may exist within their documents and to identify how these can be improved accordingly.

In this thesis, we focus on an educational context, where reading is a fundamental activity and the basis of many other learning activities. We propose a learning analytics approach for assisting course authors to maintain their courses and sustain learning. The proposals are based on theoretical background originating from research on learning analytics, reading comprehension, and content revision. We advocate “usage-based document reengineering,” a process that changes document content and structures based on the analysis of readers’ usage as recorded in their reading traces.

We model reading activity using the concept of a “reading session” and propose a new session identification method. Using learners’ reading sessions, a set of indicators related to different aspects of the reading process is computed and used to detect comprehension issues and suggest corrective content revisions. The results of the analytics process are presented to authors through a dashboard empowered with assistive features.

We instantiate our proposals using the logs of a major European e-learning platform and validate it through a series of studies. The results show the effectiveness of the approach and related dashboards to enhance authors’ awareness of learners’ needs and provide them with guidance in improving their courses accordingly.

Download the thesis manuscript