Adapting Interactive Learning Environments to Student Competences

This monograph focuses on the design of personalized and adaptive online interactivelearning environment (OILE) to enhance students' learning in and about complexdynamic systems (CDS). Numerous studies show that students experience difficultieswhen learning in and about CDS. The difficulties are due to challenges originating froma) the structural complexity of CDS, (b) the production of dynamic behavior from theunderlying systems structure, and (c) methods, techniques and tools employed in theanalysis of such systems. Despite the fact that studies have uncovered such learningchallenges, it is still not well understood how we may effectively address thesechallenges. In this monograph, the authors provide some answers as to how we may bestimprove our cognitive capabilities to meet these challenges by way of effectiveinstructional methods, techniques, and tools and their implementation in the form of anOILE. The OILE developed for this purpose, builds on a five-step holistic instructional designframework; identification of instructional design models, identification of authenticlearning material, identification of instructional methods, identification of instructionaltechniques, and design of the interface and implementation of the tool. In this OILEdevelopment, six well-documented instructional design models were considered; a four componentinstructional design, first principles of instruction, constructivists learningenvironment, task centered instruction, cognitive apprenticeship, and elaboration theory.