Elvis Wai Chung Leung

To cope with the increasing trend of learning demand and limited resources, most universities are taking advantage of Web-based technology for their distance education or e-learning (Montelpare & Williams, 2000). One of the reasons is due to the significant price drop of personal computers in recent decades; the Internet and multimedia have penetrated into most households. Moreover, most students prefer to learn from an interactive environment through a self-paced style. Under the Web-based learning model, students can learn anytime, anywhere because they are not required to go to school on schedule (Appelt, 1997). Meanwhile, universities also enjoy the economic benefit due to the large student base that can share the development cost of course materials and other operational expenses. Gradually, more and more universities follow this similar way to provide online education.

Nowadays, students can easily access online course materials at anytime or anywhere. Since the learning initiative is taken by students in an e-learning environment, student-centered course materials become more critical. They may be prepared based on an individual student's learning expectation and academic background. In this paper, a model of personalized learning environment is proposed through 1) learning object design based on elaboration theory and e-learning standards; 2) applying item response theory (IRT) in student ability test; 3) managing course materials by a dynamic conceptual network (DCN); and 4) adopting a user profile to understand students' behaviors. Finally, these building blocks are developed by open-source software tools and integrated into a single system for real-life experimental study.

In response to the government’s push toward a “knowledge-based economy society”, the development and applications of e-learning technologies have become more and more popular in Hong Kong. E-learning provides a student-centered learning environment and delivers knowledge on-demand with up-to-the-minute information. However, a high student-dropout rate and low satisfaction with the learning processes remain to be the drawbacks currently. In this paper, we review several universities’ initiatives in launching e-learning programs and/or conducting projects in this direction. We also look at some of the trendy directions in addressing the current problems of existing e-learning systems.

To cope with the increasing trend of learning demand and limited resources, most universities are taking advantage of Web-based technology for their distance education or e-learning (Montelpare & Williams, 2000). One of the reasons is due to the significant price drop of personal computers in recent decades; the Internet and multimedia have penetrated into most households. Moreover, most students prefer to learn from an interactive environment through a self-paced style. Under the Web-based learning model, students can learn anytime, anywhere because they are not required to go to school on schedule (Appelt, 1997). Meanwhile, universities also enjoy the economic benefit due to the large student base that can share the development cost of course materials and other operational expenses. Gradually, more and more universities follow this similar way to provide online education.