Tackling HCI Challenges of Creating Personalised, Pervasive Learning Ecosystems

This paper explores two classes of emerging technology that o er the promise to provide radically improved ways to support lifelong learning. We particularly focus on the human computer interaction (HCI) challenges that must be addressed if that promise is to be realised. One technology is personalisation, based on a long term learner model which captures the learner's knowledge, preferences and other attributes. We discuss the roles of an explicit learner model that is a rst class software entity, with APIs for programmers as well as e ective user interfaces that can give users control over their model and its use. We present the PLUS framework that provides the infrastructure for personalised learning, and how its Accretion-Resolution representation supports both exible reasoning for personalisation by programs and provides the foundation for users to control the whole personalisation process. We link the PLUS framework to a second class of technology, the fast-changing and increasingly ubiquitous personal mobile devices and the emerging embedded surface computing devices, such as tabletop and shared wall displays. We show how we have tackled several of the HCI challenges that are key to both these technologies.