Flexible Ontology-Driven Educational Apps and Social Media for Learners with a Disability

Abstract

This paper explores how to build ontology-driven learning systems from a flexible disability-aware mentality and augment them into a learning blend that embraces social media. The approach emphasizes the use of user centered flexible software in a blended approach to learning. The paper starts with a discussion of how learners learn, including their recent fascination with Apps and social media. The need to provide disability-aware personalization of the educational Apps that are developed is discussed. The emphasis is on designing learning systems for learners with disabilities rather than providing for them as an afterthought. The paper introduces social media as a way of facilitating and supporting e-learning. It notes the recent changes that have taken place in the use of social media. Taking e-learning as a case study the paper demonstrates how various models of e-learning, emphasizing flexible learning, can be enhanced linking back the whole while of integrating into disability-aware information systems. Some practical approaches to modeling the learner with ontologies are provided. Finally, caution is noted on how we have to use social media. We detail some of the potential problems and pitfalls that may be a contemporary consequence of using this media, then offer some suggestions and work rounds.