=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2872/paper04
|storemode=property
|title=Adaptive Learning and Testing in Moodle
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2872/paper04.pdf
|volume=Vol-2872
|authors=Alda Kika,Loreta Leka,Emiranda Loka
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/rtacsit/KikaLL21
}}
==Adaptive Learning and Testing in Moodle==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2872/paper04.pdf
Adaptive Learning and Testing in Moodle
Alda Kika, Loreta Leka and Emiranda Loka
University of Tirana, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Informatics, Bulevardi Zogu I, 25/1,
Tirana, Albania
Abstract
E-Learning systems are becoming an asset in education. Although there exist a lot of e-learning
systems very few of them can adapt to learning styles and other characteristics of students for
learning and testing processes. The aim of this paper is to present the adaptations that are done
to the Moodle platform to provide the tools and features to best serve the students and educators
to adapt the learning materials according to the students’ learning styles and to perform adaptive
testing according to their level of performance. An experimental adaptive quiz was set up and
a survey was used to evaluate learning effectiveness and learning satisfaction of 50 students
who took the test. The results of the survey were presented and discussed followed by the
conclusions and future directions.
Keywords 1
Adaptive quiz, learning styles, adaptive learning.
1. Introduction elevate motivation, engagement, satisfaction
and learning outcomes [1]. The goal of e-
learning systems should not be only to provide
During COVID-19 pandemic the
the learning materials but also to tailor them to
universities in Albania have been obliged to
various characteristics of the learners such as
switch to e-learning systems. These systems
goals, preferences, and learning styles [2]. An
have gained a great value during this period as
adaptive e-learning system is an interactive
the only way of communication between
system that personalizes and adapts e-learning
students and professors for the learning process,
content, pedagogical models, and interactions
spreading the learning materials, assessments,
between participants to meet the individual
and evaluation tests. There are a lot of
needs and preferences of users [3]. We have
advantages that these systems offer to their
enhanced Moodle e-learning system with
users as the possibility to attend the lectures
features that enable it to adapt to the students
anywhere and anytime. However, there are
learning styles and other characteristics. We
some drawbacks as well such as missing the
have chosen Moodle platform because it is an
experience face to face learning and practicing.
open-source platform offering the possibility to
Adaptive e-learning systems aim to overcome
make changes and other platforms integration
the lack of direct contact by applying a personal
[4]. This paper will present the main tools that
approach of teaching.
are used for adaptation for both students and
Traditional education and the e-learning
professors. Another important aspect in the
systems which are designed with the same
learning process is testing and evaluation of the
approach follow the concept of one size fits all,
acquired knowledge. Online quizzes which
presenting the same content to all students.
serve as a type of assessment allow students to
Adaptive learning on the other hand provides
be independent of the location and time.
participants with a personalized and dynamic
However, quizzes need to address the issue of
learning experience. This experience can
Proccedings of RTA-CSIT 2021, May 2021, Tirana, Albania
EMAIL: alda.kika@fshn.edu.al (A.Kika);
loreta.leka@fshn.edu.al (L.Leka);
emiranda.loka@fshn.edu.a (E. Loka)
©️ 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative
Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
enhancing the students learning process, 3. The adaptation for Learning
lacking the feature of ‘Personalization’. To
extend our work toward adaptation of the materials
system for testing, an adaptive quiz is created
and evaluated with a group of 50 students. After An adaptive e-learning system which
providing a short overview of the works related personalizes the learning materials to the
to this research, another section will follow students learning styles would be very useful
with the aim to represent our work for the to them [11]. We have modified Moodle to
adaptation of the Moodle platform. The rest of include the questionnaire that was based on
the paper will show the results of the adaptive Index of Learning Styles (ILS) [12]. This
quiz followed by the conclusions and the work instrument is used to evaluate a student’s
for the future. learning style according to Felder-Silverman
learning style model. FSLSM defines four
dimensions (Preprocessing, Perception, Input
2. Literature Review and Understanding). For each dimension two
types of learning styles which can be viewed as
Adaptive learning systems have been learning preferences opposites of each other are
demonstrated to improve student commitment defined. The combination of the learning styles
and learning outcomes [5]. for each dimension creates individual’s
Heba Fasihuddin et al. [6] have proposed the learning preferences [13].
personalization of the system and its adaptation In order to identify the students learning styles
based on Felder-Silverman Learning Style and help the professors to understand better the
Model (FSLSM). This model works through learning styles of the students and the materials
two agents: the first one identifies the learner’s that they should produce three plugins are
style and the second, using the information created in [14] and added to the Moodle
from the first agent, provides an adaptable platform. The first one is used to identify, and
navigation system. FSLSM was used in the store student’s learning styles based on the
work of S. Graf et al. [7] who have proposed a questionnaire, the second which is called
framework for the adaptation of the course “Learning styles” represents in a graphical view
content based on learning styles identified by the distribution of learning styles between
the model. The research in [8] proposed an students, and “Activity Report” that shows for
enhanced LMS implemented in Moodle each student, the number of interactions with
platform that support adaptive features. The each material. We have tested the modified
major adaptation features were based on visual Moodle Platform with a group of 73 students in
and verbal dimension of Felder-Silverman Bachelor of Informatics Program. The results
Learning Style Model (FSLSM) and the from the created plugin “Learning styles” are
student's knowledge level. In [9] the system shown in Figures from 1 to 4.
"E-school" is described. In this system the
characteristics of the user are used by the
administrator to create different learner groups
which have access to specific lectures. Quizzes,
generated on the same content, are used to
evaluate the knowledge acquired by the users.
The paper in [10] focuses on the major
components of adaptive features and techniques
to implement an adaptive quiz. Three main
components are identified: student model,
domain model and adaptation model. The Figure 1: The results from “Learning styles”
adaptive quiz system will serve to assess the
report for preprocessing dimension.
knowledge of the students based on skills,
knowledge, and preferences of each learner.
4. Adaptive Quiz
We have set up an adaptive quiz by using
Adaptive Quiz Activity in Moodle. It creates
tests that can estimate users' level of knowledge
by adapting the question difficulty.
A question bank of 20 multiple choice
questions from two modules in the subject
Figure 2: The results from “Learning styles” “Programming Java” was created. Each
report for perception dimension. question was tagged with the level of difficulty
(easy, moderate, advanced). The parameters of
the quiz can be determined by the professor
such as difficulty levels of questions, the
starting level for the first question or minimum
and maximum number of questions. In the
Figure 5 a screenshot from the adaptive quiz is
presented.
Figure 3: The results from “Learning styles”
report for input dimension.
Figure 5: Adaptive quiz presentation
After the student answers one question, the
algorithm selects the difficulty level for the
next question depending on the student’s
answer. If the student answers a question
correctly, a question with a higher level of
Figure 4: The results from “Learning styles” difficulty is chosen next otherwise a less
report for understanding dimension. difficult or will the same level of difficulty
question will be chosen.
This report shows to the professors the Another adaptation that this quiz does is about
distribution of the students according to their the number of the questions that will be asked.
learning styles. The professors of the course The number of questions will be between the
having this information would be more aware minimum and maximum values which are
of the type of the materials that they provide for determined during the process of configuration
their students. For example, if most of the of the quiz. The quiz will stop if the user's
students are visual learners, they can ability level is determined to the required
understand better the concepts with pictures, accuracy or if the maximum number of
diagrams, flow charts, and demonstrations questions have been answered.
while verbal learners understand by reading The students can have an unlimited number of
more text material or listening to spoken attempts to the quiz. The quiz will choose the
explanations. question in random depending on the
configuration made by the professor and the
answers given by the student.
5. Students’ survey data results information about the lecture where that
concept was introduced.
To understand the perceived value of an
adaptive quiz to the students a survey was filled 6. Conclusion and future work
by 50 students who took the adaptive quiz.
The survey data were examined to explore Adapting the e-learning systems to the learning
whether the students perceived benefits from styles and other characteristics will provide
the adaptive quiz and also to gather suggestions value and encourage the students to learn and
from them about the features that could be perform better. In this paper we presented the
added to the adaptive quiz to increase their level work that is done to adapt Moodle platform to
of motivation and learning outcomes. The learning styles of the students following Felder-
survey was composed of 5 questions. Silverman Learning Style Model. This
The first question was whether they have heard adaptation will help the professors to provide
before about adaptive quizzes. Surprisingly learning materials according to learning styles
42% have heard before and 58% have not. The of the students. In the future we aim to adapt the
second question was whether adaptive quiz system to automatically present to the students
helped the students to identify the problems in the materials that are more suitable to their
their knowledge about the subject. learning styles. Adaptive testing is another
96 % answered that this quiz helped them to important tool that can help students to better
identify their problems and 4% that it did not. learn and assess their level of knowledge. An
The third question was about whether the adaptive test is set up and taken by 50 students.
reaction of the adaptive quiz encourages The results of the survey showed that the
students to try more to increase their adaptive quiz was perceived as a valuable tool
performance. All of them answered that this by the students that encourages them to learn
feature of adaptive quiz encouraged them to and increase their level of performance. Some
try more(36% answered that it helped very suggestions from the students will be used to
much and the rest that it helped sufficiently). enhance the features of the adaptive quiz in the
The fourth question was about the statement future. Future research will explore further
that adaptive quiz was a very good tool to whether the students who did use adaptive
increase the knowledge about the subject. All quizzes, improved their performance compared
the students agree to this statement (24 % to those that did not or took traditional ones.
strongly agree and the rest agree).
The last question was formulated to gather the
suggestions from the students with the aim of
enhancing the adaptive test in the future to serve
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