A conceptual framework based on ontologies for knowledge management in e-learning systems

E-Learning has become an important topic during the last years. It can also be seen as knowledge generation, dissemination and (re)use. The knowledge (based) society is a common term now. Life long learning as well as the use of new media lead to e-Learning of different kinds. In order to combine existing resources, a general description is needed. Systematic approach to managing knowledge is an essential pre-requisite to enabling learners and knowledge seekers to access relevant material as and when it is required. socio-cultural model of the student as the main actor of a virtual learning environment, as part of a larger project – DANTE – Socio-Cultural Models implemented through multi-agent architecture for e- learning. DANTE has as main objective the development of a global model for the virtual education system, student centred, that facilitates the learning through collaboration as a form of social interaction. In our vision, the global model requires its own universe in which the human agents interact with software agents. The global model is considered the core of an e-learning system. The proposed e-Learning system has a general architecture with three levels: user, intermediary, supplier-educational space, on each level heterogeneous families of human and software agents are interacting. The main human actors are: the student, the teacher and the tutor. In the virtual learning environment we have the corresponding agents. The human actors are interacting with the e-learning system via several agentified environments. The teacher (human agent) is assisted by two types of software agents: personal assistant (classic interface agent) and didactic assistant. The SOCIAL agentified environment has social agents and a database with group models (profiles of social behavior). The agentified DIDACTIC environment assists the cognitive activities of the student and/or of the teachers. The student (human agent) evolves in an agentified environment with three types of agents. He/she has a personal assistant (software interface agent) who monitors all the student’s actions and communicates (interacts) with all the other agents, with the agentified environments of other students and with the teacher’s agentified environment. The student has at his/her disposal two more agents: the TUTOR and the mediating agent. The TUTOR assistant evaluates the educational objectives of the student and recommends her/him some kind of activities. The decisions are based on the knowledge of the students’ cognitive profile (which takes into account the social component). The TUTOR agent interacts with the personal assistant of the student, with the mediating agent and with the social agentified environment. As the system is conceived, the accent is put on collaboration activities between students, which consist in knowledge exchange, realization of common projects, tasks’ negotiation, sharing resources, common effort for the understanding of a subject, problem-solving in-group. In this paper we are presenting further developments of the DANTE ptoject that are using ontiologies for knowledge management.