A mashup recommender for creating personal learning environments

This paper presents an approach and an integrated tool that supports the creation of personal learning environments suitable for self-regulated learning. The rationale behind this approach is an ontology of cognitive and meta-cognitive learning activities that are related to widgets from a Widget Store. Patterns of such learning activities allow for providing the user with appropriate recommendations of widgets for each learning activity. The system architecture follows a Web-based approach and includes the Mashup Recommender widget and its backend service, the ontology available through a Web service, the Widget Store with its interface to retrieve widgets, and the integration into the learning environment framework. The pedagogical approach regarding the usage of this technology is based on self-regulated learning taking into account different levels between guidance and freedom. A quantitative and qualitative evaluation with teachers describes advantages and ideas for improvement.