Preface to Special Issue on User Modelling to Support Personalization in Enhanced Educational Settings

Abstract

Personalization approaches in learning environments aim to foster effective, active, efficient, and satisfactory learning. Suitable user modelling techniques are crucial to support these approaches in dealing with learners' needs within realistic learning environments, which are currently cropping up in a varied range of situations. Bearing this in mind, this paper provides an overview of relevant research over the last five years in both user modelling and education, which shows an increasing interest among researchers and practitioners who are concerned with modelling users' needs in the new and evolving educational settings that are widening the diversity of learning contexts and issues to be considered. In particular, we have identified three main areas of research: i) modelling of learners and their performance to provide engaging learning experiences, ii) designing adaptive support, and iii) building standards-based models to cope with interoperability and portability.