The Value of Adaptivity in Hypermedia Learning Environments: A Short Review of Empirical Evidence

Adaptivity is a particular functionality of hypermedia that may be applied through a variety of methods in computer-based learning environments used in educational settings, such as the flexible delivery of courses through Web-based instruction. Adaptive link annotation is a specific adaptive hypermedia technology whose aim is to help users find an appropriate path in a learning and information space by adapting link presentation to the goals, knowledge, and other characteristics of an individual user. To date, empirical studies in this area are limited but generally recognised by the Adaptive Hypertext and Hypermedia research community as critically important to validate existing approaches. The purpose of this paper is two fold: to briefly report the results of an experiment to determine the effectiveness of adaptive link annotation in educational hypermedia (fully described in Brusilovsky & Eklund, 1998), and to situate the study within a summarised survey of the literature of adaptive educational hypermedia systems and the empirical studies that have been undertaken to evaluate them.