Title:	PROVISION OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING SUPPORT THROUGH CONTEXT AND SOCIAL PRESENCE AWARENESS
Author(s):	Ray M Kekwaletswe
ISBN:	978-972-8939-07-6
Editors:	Piet Kommers and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2010
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Learning action, social presence, context aware, personalized support, social interaction
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	43
Last Page:	50
Language:	English
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Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	Learners in South African universities are faced with varied challenges stemming from lack of resources to diverse social backgrounds. Due to the social and educational imbalances across the country, admission of underprepared learners to the universities is not uncommon. This then means that universities should in turn be in a position to provide personalized academic support sensitive to the learner’s background. But, providing this personalized learning support remains one of the challenges facing South African universities. To this point, this paper argues that awareness of context and social presence influences learning actions, thus, central to the provision of personalized learning support. That is, awareness of a knowledgeable social presence and context could leverage the preceding challenge. The paper is premised on the idea that learners are mobile - that is, they traverse varied learning contexts - hence learning support should follow them. Subsequently, learners should have learning support independent of location and time. However, in a contact university, learning support fades as learners move away from formal contexts. These learners’ alternative is then to seek support from a peer, who often shares a background. The contribution of this paper is towards understanding how awareness facilitates ubiquitous personalized support and on-demand sharing of learning experiences.
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