Developing E-Learning Course Based On Ontology

Internet-supported E-Learning online learning system which make use of modern information technology provides learners with a learning environment which possesses a good communication mechanism and abundant resources. This kind of learning style advocates a learner-centered personalized learning which therefore gets rid of the constraints of time and space in traditional education. Nowadays, E-learning mainly uses metadata to organize learning material, edit courseware and manage the contents. However, lacking of a universal and explicit concept representation makes it difficult to share and reuse course resources. Meanwhile, due to a lack of flexible course structure brings stiffness and delay to the construction of courses. These deficiencies will seriously hinder the development of E-learning system in the aspect of personalized learning.In order to solve the problem of a lack of reusability in learning resources, this paper will introduce a knowledge representation of course contents, following the idea of ontology's reusability, and attaches importance to the construction steps, the division of class layer in ontology construction,the definition and constraints of class. Taking the course of Computer Networking for example, this paper brings forward five kinds of relations and six common properties of course ontology. Besides, in order to define the properties more precisely, a further division is made based on the type (data or class) of the assigned value of class properties. Lastly, an instance of the ontology of the course of Computer Network is constructed and represented in OWL language.To solve the problem of the deficiency of the design of course structure, this paper brings forward a five-layer structure and establishes ontology for course based on learning objectives, traditional curricular structure and the relationship of knowledge points.Each layer of the course has its own properties and construction requirements. To meet the goal-oriented learning style, a concept of knowledge unit has been introduced, and the builders package corresponding knowledge points and represent knowledge units structure in XML language. At the same time, in order to design the knowledge unit better, it takes computer networking course as an example to divide and classify knowledge points clearly. Course structure decides course knowledge frame, course structure is replaced and improved continuously, this separable and reusable structure realizes the mapping of course and knowledge and supplies course designers with more efficient services and more comprehensive learning resources.