e-Learning recommender system for a group of learners based on the unified learner profile approach

In the age of information explosion, e-learning recommender systems (eL_RSs) have emerged as effective information filtering techniques that attempt to provide the most appropriate learning resources for learners while using e-learning systems. These learners are differentiated on the basis of their learning styles, goals, knowledge levels and others. Several attempts have been made in the past to design eL_RSs to recommend resources to individuals; however, an investigation of recommendations to a group of learners in e-learning is still in its infancy. In this paper, we focus on the problem of recommending resources to a group of learners rather than to an individual. The major challenge in group recommendation is how to merge the individual preferences of different learners that form a group and extract a pseudo unified learner profile (ULP) that closely reflects the preferences of all learners. Firstly, we propose a profile merging scheme for the ULP by utilizing learning styles, knowledge levels and ratings of learners in a group. Thereafter, a collaborative approach is proposed based on the ULP for effective group recommendations. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed group recommendation strategy for e-learning.