Position paper Ontologies for reusable and scrutable student models

We are concerned with building reusable, scrutable student models. Reuse means that different teaching systems are expected to make use of some components of the same student model. Scrutability means that the model can be scrutinised by the learner to determine what it models about them and how that modelling process operated. Reusable student models demand core ontologies that are common to all uses of the components in a domain. On top of this, various teaching systems can each maintain their own additional frameworks and interpretations on these components. This paper discusses the division of ontological responsibility between the student model and teaching systems.