A Model of Adaptive e-learning Hypermedia System based on Thinking and Learning Styles

Most approaches to adaptive hypermedia were based around acquiring and representing learner’s knowledge. While this is crucial for user modelling in general adaptive hypermedia, it is very limited for e-learning because it does not address the far more fundamental problem which is “learners learn in different ways, different learning styles and different thinking styles”. The design of adaptive e-learning hypermedia system (AEHS) in this work is based on quantitative and qualitative research; the adaptive rules are deduced from the results of a psychological and pedagogical questionnaire. Pedagogical activities are the outcome of a series of deductions; the final activity sets are manifested in AEHS. In order to assess the positive effect and validity of adaptation on the basis of learners' thinking and learning styles, this study presents two subsequent experiments. The first experiment explores the relationship of thinking style and pedagogical activities to validate this specific psychological construct in the context of educational hypermedia. The second experiment presents the effect of a set of human factors (thinking style, learning style) in AEHS.