Cooperative multimedia management for participative learning: A case study

Web 2.0 has definitively twisted roles and rules within processes leading to the final online resources we all can enjoy on the Internet. Producers and consumers of Web contents merged into prosumers, dialectically sharing their knowledge, their experiences, as well as their needs. Such novel dynamics provide a strong spin-off for e-learning methodologies and technologies, by allowing students participation along learning materials life cycle, from simple feedbacks, up to real enrichments of didactical resources. As elsewhere on the Web 2.0 scenario, inclusive aspects of e-learning 2.0 represent either a new challenge or a new opportunity. This paper presents an e-learning 2.0 tool which is able to support users during the collaborative editing of didactical contents, from simple text to compound multimedia. Starting from a resource provided by the lecturer, learners can contribute in adding alternative contents and views, creating a multidimensional information structure. The resulting enriched material can be tailored to a specific user by resorting to automatic adaptation mechanisms. By utilizing typical Web 2.0 interfaces, our system involves all the different actors (lecturers, learning technologists, student support services, staff developers and students) to play a key role in improving the accessibility and, more generally, the effectiveness of learning materials.