Working memory differences in e-learning environments: Optimization of learners' performance through personalization
Date
2009Author
Tsianos, NikosGermanakos, Panagiotis
Lekkas, Zacharias
Mourlas, Constantinos
Samaras, George S.
Belk, Marios
ISSN
0302-9743Source
17th International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization, UMAP 2009Volume
5535 LNCSPages
385-390Google Scholar check
Keyword(s):
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Working memory (WM) is a psychological construct that has a major effect on information processing, thus signifying its importance when considering individual differences and adaptive educational hypermedia. Previous work of the authors in the field has demonstrated that personalization on human factors, including the WM sub-component of visuospatial sketchpad, may assist learners in optimizing their performance. To that end, a deeper approach in WM has been carried out, both in terms of more accurate measurements and more elaborated adaptation techniques. This paper presents results from a sample of 80 university students, underpinning the importance of WM in the context of an e-learning application in a statistically robust way. In short, learners that have low WM span expectedly perform worse than learners with higher levels of WM span however, through proper personalization techniques this difference is completely alleviated, leveling the performance of low and normal WM span learners. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.