Design of open content social learning based on the activities of learner and similar learners

Teaching and learning are increasingly taking advantage of the rapid growth in Internet resources, open content, mobile technologies and social media platforms. However, due to the generally unstructured nature and overwhelming quantity of learning content, effective learning remains challenging. In an effort to close this gap, the authors designed and built an Open Content Social Learning (OCSL) system that compares different pedagogical strategies and algorithms intended to improve learning. Their results have shown increased effectiveness when recommending learning activities in a pedagogically appropriate order based on learning goals, historical learning preferences, and behaviors from other learners who had similar goals.