Competency-Based Intelligent Curriculum Sequencing Using Particle Swarms

As a part of many e-learning initiatives, a set of learning units must be arranged in a particular order to meet the learnerspsila requirements. This process is known as sequencing and it is typically performed by instructors, who create wide-public ordered series rather than learner personalized sequences. This paper proposes an innovative intelligent technique for learning object automated sequencing using particle swarms. E-learning standards are promoted in order to ensure interoperability. Competencies are used to define relations among learning objects within a sequence, so that the sequencing problem turns into a permutation problem and a particle swarm optimization algorithm can be applied to solve it. Results demonstrate that the new agent succeeds and it shows a good performance in real and tests scenarios.