Trong bài báo này, chúng tôi đề cập đến việc phát triển nội dung học tập và đề xuất một mô hình toán học về lĩnh vực tri thức mang tính sư phạm dùng cho e-Learning, được gọi mô hình Đồ thị Tri thức (Knowledge Graph). Dựa trên những phân tích sư phạm và lí thuyết dạy học, Đồ thị Tri thức có thể đảm bảo các tính chất đầy đủ và hợp lí đối với lượng kiến thức chuẩn cần thiết của một chương trình đào tạo cho trước.
Science & Technology Development, Vol 14, No.T1- 2011 PEDAGOGICAL DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE FOR E-LEARNING Duc-Long Le(1), Dinh-Thuc Nguyen(2), An-Te Nguyen(2), Van-Hao Tran(1), Axel Hunger(3) (1) HCM city University of Pedagogy, Vietnam (2) University of Science, VNU-HCM (3) University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany (Manuscript Received on September 21 th, 2010, Manuscript Revised January 13rd, 2011) ABSTRACT: In e-Learning, the face-to-face communication between instructors and learners are more limited than in traditional learning form This causes difficulties for the teaching and learning process Besides, the developing learning materials in the conventional way are also becoming less and less effective to learners Therefore, building the productive learning contents is one of the main problems for e-Learning systems In this paper, we deal with the development of learning contents and propose a mathematical model as pedagogical domain knowledge for e-Learning, called Knowledge Graph Based on pedagogical and teaching analyses, Knowledge Graph is able to ensure logical and complete qualities for necessary standard knowledge of a given curriculum Especially, the model is useful for undergraduate education in the developing countries such as Vietnam, where the training context needs strong content knowledge, and good procedures for the building of training programs and curricula It can help educational administrators, pedagogical experts, and instructors to design high quality teaching and learning materials Keywords: e-Learning, prime idea (PI), necessary/hard-condition, Knowledge Graph (KG), SubKnowledge Graph (Sub-KG), e-Course education to be more flexible in a way in which INTRODUCTION E-Learning has been developing rigorously in a handful of formats and effective applications to serve the need for on-line education by instructors and learners Through practical survey, researchers in education show that e-learning has brought plenty of benefits to training at college/university by helping learning occurs: where, when, and how eLearning systems can link all educational activities together foe every individual or group to study and work, on-line or off-line, synchronously or asynchronously via computer networks, personal computers or other electronic devices Nevertheless, the problem of utilizing instructors and students attain necessary skills society pedagogical methodologies into the system is [19][21][27] With the specific applications, e- not simple and still insufficient [23] During Learning can enhance the relevance and the effectiveness continually faces challenges from both of the of work Trang 14 in the of 21st century education by enabling development process, e-Learning TẠP CHÍ PHÁT TRIỂN KH&CN, TẬP 14, SỐ T1 - 2011 main actors, instructor and learner, e.g how below must be met so that the learner herself can system meet the requirements of the can definitely benefit from the system: instructor and learner in order to serve (L1) Learning contents have to be effectively their on-line teaching and learning complete, logical and pedagogical; they also needs? match demand and ability of learner In an e-Learning system, the instructor plays the roles as an organizer, a manager as (L2) Learning activities should interest the learner and stimulate her learning desire well as a supervisor in the learner’s activities of a course by providing learning resources and supervising learning progress Limited by indirect interaction with his1 learners, the instructor expects the system to support two To meet the above requirements, there are two delicate problems to be addressed: the design Learning contents learning contents and the development of learning activities in the eLearning systems requirements as follows: (I1) of Talking about the learning content, the are able to substitute the instructor himself in transmitting knowledge in way of almost the same as the teaching activities in classroom meeting, where he is considered as a director in all learner’s activities designing and building of programs, curricula, courses, and lectures are necessary questions in teaching process They are also considered as key phases in the development of learning contents and materials in both traditional learning form and e-Learning Additionally, (I2) Learning contents and activities are strengthening and improving learning contents able to provide sufficient classroom interaction in an e-Learning system can help compensate in way of almost the same as direct interaction the among the instructor, the learners and the between the instructor and learners [8][9] groups Clearly, if learning contents can replace the lack of face-to-face communication On the other hand, a learner in the e- teaching role of instructor in the class meeting, Learning system has to be an active actor The then learning activities in the e-Learning term “active” emphasizes the need for self- system will be almost similar to the traditional motivation of learner’s participation in the way of learning In this paper, we care about system, and the system will be less effective if the development of learning contents and the learner is not active enough or is under propose unwanted pressure The two requirements fundamental model of domain knowledge for a mathematical model as the e-Learning, called Knowledge Graph (abbr KG that we will keep throughout the paper), The feminine form is used in this paper for learners and the masculine form for instructors which is formed by a set of the smallest basic knowledge called prime idea and its close Trang 15 Science & Technology Development, Vol 14, No.T1- 2011 relationship (see in section 3) Based on model pedagogical basic teaching definitions and propositions (see in 3.1), then principles, the proposed model is able to ensure 3.2 presents the steps to build KG that is required qualities of learning contents (in a considered as a curriculum of a specific given of training program; Section displays an deploying the learning activities in the e- application of KG in e-Learning; and the Learning system conclusion is presented in section analyses and curriculum) for the purposes together with the mathematical The KG model is really suitable for the undergraduate education context and even other training forms (e.g K-12 school, in- PEDAGOGICAL ANALYSES The teaching and learning process in the service training) for developing countries such traditional as Vietnam [25], where educational systems traditional should improve more and more training through the interaction among three factors: programs, curricula and infrastructures This instructor training context is a combination of traditional Particularly, instructor’s teaching methods and learning and e-Learning, simply known as learner’s learning methods together with the Blended-Learning Environment [26], where e- knowledge required by a given curriculum will Learning system is considered as a learning- create well-organized learning activities so that supporting system From that, it needs to have the learners can acquire that knowledge enough strong knowledge base and necessary procedures to build training learning environment (abbr teaching process) is exhibited – learner – knowledge [5] In the traditional teaching process, the programs, communication between the instructor and curricula, on-line courses, including textbooks, learners is direct and face-to-face With the lecture notes, and develop learning activities in given teaching goals and the amount of the system So, KG is able to support the required knowledge, the instructor must know system developers, educational administrators, what to teach in class and how to teach to suit pedagogical experts in the development and the needs of different learners The instructor’s deployment of an e-Learning system [4][7], ability in this case is not completely clear and including the instructors on duty who expects explicit It will be shown through teaching and to design high-quality learning materials and learning progress in class where he usually on-line lectures recognizes what is necessary to help his The rest of this paper will cover four learners understand the knowledge Thus, it is sections In section 2, we present the logical often called the pedagogical ability and foundation of experience of instructor (a.k.a instructor’s pedagogical and teaching aspects to reach to pedagogical method or teaching skill) And the proposed model; section shows the KG then, the learners will acquire the knowledge Trang 16 based on the analyses TẠP CHÍ PHÁT TRIỂN KH&CN, TẬP 14, SOÁ T1 - 2011 and promote the skills through their learning (or lessons) And we easily see that a topic is methods by following the instructor’s guidance represented in two main parts: prime ideas of and studying the learning materials the topic and the instructor’s presentations The traditional prime idea is necessary standard knowledge teaching process can be displayed by a process required to be understood and memorized by with the pedagogical concepts Firstly, the the learner, however she can meet some design of a specific curriculum is usually done difficulties to learn it during her self-study by the academia committee (e.g educational activity if there is not any guidance from administrators and pedagogical experts) for instructor The instructor’s presentation is an each different targeted type of learners and act of displaying to make clear core knowledge particular training goals For example, there are basing on the instructor’s pedagogical ability some differences between the goal of Maths for Therefore, the instructor himself often designs K-12 school and the goal of Computer Science the topic and uses it during the face-to-face field Each communication between him and learners in curriculum constitutes a set of courses with the classroom to help the learners acquire relevant properties such as course objectives, knowledge easily Generally for speaking, the undergraduate education requirements, relation of courses (such as prerequisite independence checklists), course, parallel course), total key hours, For example, with the course course and “Fundamental Programming with C”, one of contents (in prime ideas in the topic “Operators and etc Then each Expressions” is “Relational and logical instructor in charge of a course designs the operators” and its statement as “Relational and detailed syllabus for each particular class The logical operators include =; ==; detailed syllabus discusses all specific key != and &&; ||” In teaching process, the contents, it also describes up to the finest instructor should explain and make clear this granularity of learning topics and weekly prime schedule for every class Together with the experience and the practical context reference materials suggested by the academia classroom (learners’ ability and background) committee, the instructor prepares the materials through explaining the operators above, giving and related resources for the learners From some examples about strange operators to detailed instructor learner, guiding some practical exercises, for establishes the standards and goals for the example All of these works are mainly the topics and reorganizes the standard knowledge teaching into teaching knowledge Teaching knowledge representations directly to learners course syllabus, the is transferred and communicated directly to the learners in the class in form of learning topics In idea basing knowledge brief, the on his pedagogical through relationship of instructor’s between curriculum and prime ideas is exhibited Trang 17 Science & Technology Development, Vol 14, No.T1- 2011 through multiple intermediate components; each curriculum, and it should be also however both are developed and composed by developed by the academia committee to the ensure academia committee Clearly, the the qualities of logicality and curriculum is at a general level and aims at completeness For this reason, our model has training goals whereas prime ideas are at been proposed basing on prime ideas and their detailed level and aim toward the most relationship to organize domain knowledge and fundamental domain knowledge As soon as deploy for applications in e-education and the learners assimilate all prime ideas, they will distance training field have the overall necessary knowledge and be able to meet the required training goals In currently-used e-Learning systems, the learning materials (e.g course contents, lecture Now let’s consider the perspectives of notes and reference resources) have always instructors and learners For the instructors, the been received high attention and developed by set of prime ideas is complete knowledge and the research community An interesting thing is the most condensed content of the topic to be that the success of e-learning has long transmitted to learners Therefore, prime idea is associated with the use of instructional design considered as the core knowledge component models in an early literature [22] Indeed, that needs to get sufficient attention during thanks to instructional design, e-learning curriculum design If the set of prime ideas is applications attain the connection between devised plans to build carefully, the learners designing learning materials based on teaching will surely meet the required training goals In theory with choosing and using technology other words, prime idea is the specific effectively However, previous researches in representation of fundamental knowledge in a the field of instructional design almost have not curriculum This explains why the set of prime either recognized the relationship between ideas is needed to build by the academia instructional committee Furthermore, the instructors also knowledge, or they also did not concerned present the set of prime ideas as a learning about the influences of pedagogical value in script to teach, from that he needs to know designing content knowledge, and vice versa which prime ideas are the starting or ending With the employment of more and more knowledge, or which a prime ideas is instructional prerequisite knowledge for other ones, or applications which a prime idea is necessary knowledge to strategies, commonly where the instructional guide the learning process of another one designers are employed as pedagogical experts among the prime ideas Consequently, the and not as content experts, or the practical relationship between prime ideas has formed an educators – teachers/instructors – are content ordered sequence of the domain knowledge for experts but not pedagogical experts Clearly, Trang 18 design models designers creates and content for e-learning effective pedagogical TẠP CHÍ PHÁT TRIỂN KH&CN, TẬP 14, SỐ T1 - 2011 pedagogical content and pedagogical value of the strategy logicality that are represented for the value The issue raises the need for the combination effectivity, and engaging learner into learning between building content knowledge with environment that is represented for the value engaging pedagogical value to guarantee the learning two qualities: “effectivity” and “learning principles can be represented the instructor’s attraction” [11] Rather, instructional design role in transferring content knowledge to has focus on measuring the degree of using a learners in class meeting Then, hopefully set of teaching activities (i.e lesson plans) for when content knowledge is exploited in e- those deploying the teaching-learning system, learning applications, the limitation of lacking under an assumption that these activities are face-to-face communication is reduced (as effective, regardless of what topics learn, and presented in section 1) Briefly, it is necessary how instructor’s teaching skills transfer content to build a model of domain knowledge that can knowledge to learners There is no clue to support actively for the learning activities in e- reveal why researches in this area has not Learning exploited the impact of essential pedagogical Knowledge Graph [13][13][17] is mainly such principles for instructional design, although a model and it is able to provide core some research has knowledge of adaptive resources and services discovered the importance of instructor’s for instructor and learner, especially learner in pedagogical ability transferring content effectiveness of in higher education values completeness the result will be a “gap” between learning as attraction?” systems These [3] and pedagogical Then, proposed experience in self-study activities, in which the key idea of ensuring the Knowledge Graph model refers to the engaging activities “pedagogical values” into the process of [1][2][6][18][24] Moreover, there is not any designing and building content knowledge In recent work on a model to represent domain the knowledge with the pedagogical analysis and Knowledge Graph and its components and and learning teaching theories under perspectives different users, such as next sections, we further describe of educational KNOWLEDGE GRAPH (KG) MODEL administrators, pedagogical experts, instructors In this section, we display two main parts, and learners, especially learners with their the first is the concepts of basic components individual characteristics [20] built in KG, and the second is the procedure of Focusing on building content knowledge for e-learning applications to ensure two qualities that analyzed above, the main question of our studies: “what is way to organize a content knowledge to building KG as a specific curriculum 3.1 Definitions and propositions Definition Prime-idea, also called PI for short, is the smallest knowledge unit about a meet Trang 19 Science & Technology Development, Vol 14, No.T1- 2011 specific technical topic and is explained in a Figure illustrates generic structure for short transparent paragraph two particular PI’s of course Fundamental We use the notation ρ, which is kept Programming with C, including its components throughout the paper to express PI in the next as ID, label, statement and category definitions and propositions Figure Example for PI and its components We note two important properties of PI as (2) Let P = {ρ}i, (i =1,n) be a set of PI’s P is called hard-condition of ρk , if and follows Indivisibility By its definition, PI is the only if for each ρj of P (j k), then ρj is smallest and indivisible knowledge unit prerequisite knowledge of ρk For example, supposed that ρ is a given PI, By the Definition 2, we see that hard-condition if ρ could be subdivided into two smaller has two important properties: units ρ1 and ρ2, then ρ is not the smallest unit, and hence it is not a PI Instead, ρ1, ρ2 Mandatory Hard-condition of ρk is the mandatory knowledge prior to learning ρk could be PI’s Therefore, the learner must have either Clarity The statement of prime idea must acquired ρj (hard-condition of ρk) or been have a single meaning (that means all prepared by the instructor in learning learners must have exactly the same way process of understanding the paragraph) Definition Hard-condition (1) Let ρj and ρk be two different PI’s, ρj Prerequisite If ρj is the hard-condition of ρk, then the ρj is immediately prior to the knowledge being learned ρk is called prerequisite knowledge of ρk if and only if ρj is required knowledge that Definition Necessary-condition must be understood before ρk is learned Let ρj and ρk be the different PI’s, ρj is (that means learner wants to understand ρk, called necessary-condition of ρk, if and only if then she must know ρj in advance) there is exactly one ordered sequence of PI’s: ρ1, ρ2 , …, ρm (m>2) such that ρj = ρ1 ; ρn is the Trang 20 TẠP CHÍ PHÁT TRIỂN KH&CN, TẬP 14, SỐ T1 - 2011 hard-condition of ρn+1 (n = 1, …, m-1); and ρm = ρk (1) This PI is hard-condition of the other one For instance, ρj is hard-condition of ρk , a, Figure illustrates concepts of hard- and denoted as ρj h ρk condition, necessary-condition, and an example (2) This PI is necessary-condition of the of the relationship between PI’s as ρ4 is hard- other one For instance, ρj is necessary- condition of ρ5; ρ1 or ρ2 is necessary-condition condition of ρk, and denoted as ρj of ρ5; ρ3 and ρ5 are independent of each other Definition Relationship between two ρk (3) They are independent, if there is no necessary-condition relationship between them PI’s Give ρj and ρk are two PI’s There is exactly one and only one of the following relationships such that Figure The relationship between PI’s Proposition For all pair of different PI’s: ρj and ρj is necessary-condition of ρm By (1) and ρk, they are independent or this one must above, we have ρq and ρk are independent be the necessary-condition of the other one Thus, ρj and ρk are also independent Indeed, (1) If (3) Generally, ρj and ρk are hard-conditions of a If ρj is necessary-condition of ρm ρq :ρq prime-idea ρm, then ρj and ρk are independent is hard-condition of ρm (2) Otherwise, suppose that ρj is necessary- and ρj is necessary- condition of ρq condition of ρm and ρk is hard-condition of ρm If ρk is necessary-condition of ρm ρq’ In case, ρj is necessary-condition of ρm, we have the following sub-cases: ρj is also necessary-condition of ρk :ρq’ is hard-condition of ρm and ρk is necessarycondition of ρq’ by Consider the following two sub-cases: definition Otherwise, if ρj is not necessary-condition of ρk then ρq : ρq is hard-condition of ρm Trang 21 Science & Technology Development, Vol 14, No.T1- 2011 If ρq = ρq’ Then ρj, ρk are necessary- Indeed, conditions of ρq Now, we just repeat (1), (1.a) KG = is directed by Definition 6, (2) and (3) (ρj ,ρk) E: ρj Otherwise, we have ρj , ρk are independent (1.b) KG is acyclic Let ρj and ρk by definition arbitrary vertices of KG Without loss of h ρk generality, assume ρj Definition Knowledge Graph - KG be two ρk Given a finite set of PI’s: {ρ}i , (i =1,n) And assume for contradiction that KG is Let V = {ρ}i be the vertex set, and E = {(ρj, not acyclic, i.e P = ρ1 … …ρm ρm+1 such that ρk)}j k , ρ1 = ρk ; ρm+1 = ρj ; and ρ1 where (ρj, ρk): ρj h ρk be the edge set Then h ρm+1 Hence, ρk h h ρ2 h … h ρm ρj We also have ρj KG = ρk , then ρk Figure illustrates some PI’s of course agree with Definiton Therefore, we conclude Fundamental Programming with C that such a path P does not exist, so (1.b) is Proposition KG is a concept map that has h ρj and ρj ρk This does not proved the following properties (2) KG is minimum Suppose ρj, ρk: ρj (1) KG is a directed and acyclic graph (a.k.a and ρj dag) ρk ρj, ρk: ρj h ρk and ρk And, such a KG is called the different relationships simultaneously Hence, it implies that (2) is proved consistent Knowledge Graph Meaning: ρ1, ρ2 are hard-conditions of ρ3 ρ1, ρ2 are necessary-condition of ρ4 Similar to the rest PI’s Figure Some PI’s of course Fundamental Programming with C Trang 22 ρk By Definition 4, two PI’s cannot have two (2) KG is minimum, i.e ρj h TẠP CHÍ PHÁT TRIỂN KH&CN, TẬP 14, SỐ T1 - 2011 Definition Sub-Knowledge Graph - Sub- represent a course, a topic or even a lecture depending on two main actors (e.g instructors KG Given KG = < V, E > Sub-KG = < V’, E’ and learners) who use/deploy learning activities > is called a Sub-Knowledge Graph of KG if of instructional system It could be seen easily and only if V’ V E’ E that KG is not a classical database but a In other words, Sub-KG is the graph derived from KG, i.e for a pair of vertices ρj and ρk in Sub-KG, we have (ρj, ρk) is an edge in Sub-KG if and only if (ρj, ρk) is an edge in KG By Definition 6, KG itself is also a sub-KG knowledge base containing core knowledge of learning contents Hence, KG is the foundation to build specialized content knowledge for development of the teaching and learningsupported systems including e-Learning systems Definition Started-PI and Ended-PI Given a Sub-KG, let ρj, ρk be the PI’s of The set of PI’s and curriculum have mutual Sub-KG (1) If ρk does not have any other ρj to be its hard-condition, then ρk is called Started-PI which 3.2 Building KG as a specific curriculum represents the original or initial relationship because PI’s exhibit the training goals in detail at low level, and the curriculum in general at high level In other words, there ought to be a mutual relationship between KG knowledge (of the current topic) and curriculum Therefore, the proposed KG (2) If ρk is not a hard-condition of any other ρj, then ρk is called Ended-PI which represents the last or ending knowledge (of the current topic) the requirements of meeting the learning goals as well as representing necessary domain knowledge for design of Computer-Supported We see that the concept of Started-PI and Ended-PI is only relative depending on each specific context when the PI’s are Started-PI’s and Ended-PI’s of a KG or Sub-KG knowledge of the Collaborative Learning (abbr CSCL) Systems [7] or Adaptive Educational Systems [4][19] For example, to build a training program (of some learning branches) and its curriculum We have constructed the set of PI’s as the fundamental above can represent the whole curriculum with for the Vietnamese undergraduate education, training firstly a scientific committee (e.g professors, program and also defined the relationship senior instructors, pedagogical experts) will between the PI’s Then the two components determine the set of courses in curriculum form a KG, and it can be able to represent basing on training goals After that they build curricula (with the set of different PI’s) to meet the general descriptions of each course with the teaching goals training learning materials and necessary references programs Besides, Sub-KG is a sub graph of Then, the relationship of courses is established, KG with the properties of KG and it can and finally the curriculum is formed and sent to of different Trang 23 Science & Technology Development, Vol 14, No.T1- 2011 instructors in charge of a course for teaching instructor to instructor In case, the instructor and learning in the class This subjective does not have much experience in teaching process is designed by the academia committee (e.g he is a student instructor or junior depending on the loose arguments of experts instructor), who are building the curriculum Especially, it transfer to his learners will become a more may be so difficult to ensure the consistency of difficult task, making him be unable to a curriculum when the curriculum is built by completely achieve the training goal of course different academia committees choosing what knowledge to We propose a solution to this problem Additionally, the instructor in charge will basing on KG, where the set of PI’s is have to prepare a practical syllabus and developed for each course and then the necessary knowledge of course by himself relationship and order between the courses are Obviously, knowledge established from the relationship between the transmitted to learners is different from PI’s within each course (see Figure 4) the amount of Figure Relationship between KG and curriculum The proposed procedure shows a process to educational administrators, pedagogical build KG from the training goal of a specific experts, and course instructors) on manual curriculum As a result, it aims at developing From that, when exploiting KG in traditional domain knowledge for the whole curriculum learning environment, the curriculum based on and proves that if KG ensures logical and KG can assist the scientific committee (or complete qualities of content knowledge, then academia committee) to re-evaluate the quality instructional order of courses will also ensure of different curricula or help the instructor in these properties In general, the process is built charge design his course easily For e-Learning by or on-line training, KG will be pedagogical an Trang 24 academia committee (including TẠP CHÍ PHÁT TRIỂN KH&CN, TẬP 14, SOÁ T1 - 2011 domain knowledge for the systems and it is knowledge in a given period of time When also considered as an expert model in adaptive every topic is presented to learner, the educational system for providing suitable instructor always tends to make the learner resources and services for each individual understand the topic, learner in form of “one to one instruction” knowledge, and apply this The solution details in the procedure that is grasp the to basic practical situations such as assignments, exercises, case studies, and projects Accordingly, a topic is printed in Figure designed and represented by the instructor to EXPLOITING KG IN E-LEARNING make clear necessary standard knowledge (i.e During the teaching process of a course in PI) that he wants to transmit to learner basing traditional learning environment (as presented on teaching technique and his pedagogical in Section 2), the instructor often bases on the experiences In e-Learning, the representation syllabus standard of each topic to satisfy all the demands above knowledge into various lessons Each lesson is becomes more difficult because it lacks the also split into many different topics so that they direct interactions between the instructor and can be transmitted to learner with a sphere of the learner, unlike in the traditional classroom of course to divide meeting [9] Trang 25 Science & Technology Development, Vol 14, No.T1- 2011 Figure Procedure building KG as a curriculum In this section, we present a process to and the learner uses e-Course in her learning build learning contents’ representation of an activities in on-line or off-line form It is also on-line course; it is called e-Course for short shown clearly that Sub-KG is the fundamental [13][15] The e-Course is designed primarily knowledge of a course which can ensure basing on Sub-KG which is derived from KG logical and complete qualities of learning and considered as a pedagogical instance of the contents with the given goal Additionally, Sub-KG to exploit KG model from the user’s Sub-KG based on goal is able to develop in aspect The application focuses on two main other learning activities such as evaluating the actors in an adaptive e-Learning system, in quality of course, reviewing learner’s previous- which the instructor designs and builds e- knowledge, recommending relevant knowledge Course in set of interacted lessons or lectures, for in-group discussion Trang 26 TẠP CHÍ PHÁT TRIỂN KH&CN, TẬP 14, SOÁ T1 - 2011 e-Course gathers together two factors, the course is Sub-KG which is derived from instructor’s KG basing on goal The pedagogical interface pedagogical ability and teaching experience to is also external component of the “skeleton” transmit necessary knowledge to the learner which is designed by the instructor to transfer and help her acquire the knowledge completely knowledge effectively fundamental knowledge and and easily, especially in the self-study activities From that, KG has been structuralized via Internet In other words, e-Course is the strong enough for developing and deploying combination between core knowledge of course for an Adaptive e-Learning system [16] which represented by Sub-KG and a pedagogical can adapt to characteristics of individual interface designed by instructor The core learner or leaner’s group by learner profile (see knowledge of the course or the “skeleton” of Figure 6) Figure The layers of using KG in Adaptive e-Learning System In teaching and learning contexts of infrastructure, it consists of two parts: e-Course developing countries' undergraduate education and e-Learning activities Learner can be now (such as Vietnam [25]), there are many interactive actively with instructor or other disadvantages like as ineffective teaching learners in different styles; system will play a methods, role of virtual tutor or virtual learner to inadequate resources, lack of common or professional skills, weak capacity participate of network and infrastructures [10] Then, the [13][15][15] these activities simultaneously blended-learning form is a good way to support for instructor and learner in learning process in which Web-based course is an important computer-mediated technology and Trang 27 Science & Technology Development, Vol 14, No.T1- 2011 4.1 Building e-Course and an illustrated Phase 1: Generating logical course (SubKG) It is presented in Section 3.2 case study To build an e-Course, the procedure has Phase 2: Creating interface component of e-Course, namely building topics of two phases [17] the e-Course (see in Figure 7) Figure Building topic from Sub-KG and e-Course is collection of topics Commonly, a topic includes: - Core knowledge of the topic (with a specific objective/goal) is just PI’s which need to be presented to learner A topic can be structured from many PI’s External representation of the Different instructors can design a topic in many various forms but all of them must be built based on the same SubKG of the course It is proved that the qualities of completeness and logicality are still in each topic topic (through user interface of system) - A topic (that knowledge learns) is is the topic content to explain PI’s linked to another one (that previous within topic It depends on design of knowledge learned or known) through each instructor using label of PI’s - Topic can have various forms as - To concept/principle or process/operation; instructional theory or exercise; easy or difficult; authoring tools (e.g Adobe Captivate, simple or complex From that, the topic Articulate Studio, LectureMaker, Help content will be edited and presented to & Manual, and EXE) to product topics suit a particular type of presentation according to standard metadata (e.g (e.g question, explanation, guiding in IEEE-LOM, SCORM, and AICC) step-by-step, image, and diagram) Trang 28 develop an e-Course, designer should the use TẠP CHÍ PHÁT TRIỂN KH&CN, TẬP 14, SỐ T1 - 2011 Assumed that instructor Le want to build contexts In case of Le, there are three types of an on-line course “Programming with C” in group learning including: type has the Bachelor’s curriculum of Computer Science, individual characteristics of learners such as then Le needs to design learning materials for learning habit = “>2 hours per day for supporting his learners by IT equipments (e.g internet”, personal computer) via Internet, and they can background knowledge = “good”, frequency of be lecture notes and related documentations in self study = “permanent”; type such as form an e-Course With a given KG of the learning habit = “