User Control of Adaptation in an Automated Web - Based Learning Environment

Adaptive hypertext provides a powerful approach to the problems of providing information that is appropriate to the diverse needs of users, and it is most commonly implemented in education. In this paper we describe how an experimental XML-based adaptive learning environment (WHURLE) has been built to facilitate the creation of reusable educational content. WHURLE authors fall into three categories – subject experts create " chunks " – conceptually discrete units of content; teachers create " lessons " and technical authors create the user models that inform the systems adaptation. WHURLE has a modular architecture so that alternative skins and adaptation filters may be used to radically change its appearance and behaviour. We also consider issues involved with navigation in an adaptive docuverse, and describe a mechanism for user-control of the adaptation – tantamount to a manual override of the user model.