E-learning activity-based material recommendation system

Purpose - Computer based systems have great potential for delivering learning material. However, problems are encountered, such as: difficulty of Learning resource sharing, high redundancy of learning material, and deficiecy of the course brief. In order to solve these problems, this paper aims to propose an automatic inquiring system for learning materials which, utilize the data-sharing and fast searching properties of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and JAVA Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB). Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes an application to utilize the techniques of LDAP and JAXB to reduce the load of search engines and the complexity of content parsing. Additionally, through analyzing the logs of learners' learning behaviors, the likely keywords and the association among the learning course contents is ascertained. The integration of metadata of the learning materials in different platforms and maintenance in the LDAP server is specified. Findings - As a general search engine, learners can search contents by using multiple keywords concurrently. The system also allows learners to query by content creator, topic, content body and keywords to narrow the scope of materials. Originality/value - Teachers can use this system more effectively in their education process to help them collect, process, digest and analyze information.