Design of a Virtual Environment for Comparing Curriculum Sequencing Algorithms

Curriculum Sequencing is one of the most appealing challenges for educational environments where learners need adapted courses, i.e., courses tailored to their own personal traits. In this work we address the problem of how to compare and test different Curriculum Sequencing algorithms in order to reason about them through a self-contained and homogeneous environment. We propose LS-lab, a framework for comparing and testing different Curriculum Sequencing algorithms in learning environments such as Educational Hypermedia. LS-lab has been designed to run different Curriculum Sequencing algorithms, each of them provided with its own Student Model representation. In this framework, the Knowledge Domain must be IEEE LOM compliant, while, through a suitable GUI, one can insert new algorithms or run already available ones. We are carrying out the implementation by using a 3-tier Java application technology, in order to provide this environment available on the Internet. Finally we perform an application example.