Dimensions of Transparency in Open Learner Models

The design of learner models that are open to the student’s perusal is challenging, because a variety of competing objectives must be reconciled: comprehensiveness versus comprehensibility, and student control versus model validity. This paper suggests one approach to meeting the challenge that begins by identifying three dimensions of transparency in learner models. These provide a framework in which to design appropriate views of the data and limited controls, that best satisfy the requirements for the model. Part of one solution is to logically and physically distribute the records that comprise the model. The current status of learner modeling in the INFACT system is described.