Using Learning Style-Based Diagnosis Tool to Enhance Collaborative Learning in an Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

In this study, an intelligent learning style aware diagnosis agent for computer-supported cooperative learning is proposed. Learners are first assigned to heterogeneous groups based on their learning styles questionnaire given right before the beginning of learning activities on the e-learning platform. The proposed diagnosis agent then scrutinizes each learner's learning portfolio on e-learning platform and automatically issues feedback messages in case some learner's behavior that is unfitted to his/her learning styles or devious argument on discussion board or wiki is detected. The Moodle, an open-source software e-learning platform, is used to establish the cooperative learning environment for this study. The experimental results reveal that the proposed learning style aware diagnosis agent indeed boosts the performance of the learners. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 19: 739-746, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.20359