Lifelong Learner Modeling for Lifelong Personalized Pervasive Learning

Pervasive and ubiquitous computing have the potential to make huge changes in the ways that we will learn, throughout our lives. This paper presents a vision for the lifelong user model as a first class citizen, existing independently of any single application and controlled by the learner. The paper argues that this is a critical foundation for a vision of personalised lifelong learning as well as a form of augmented cognition that enables learners to supplement their own knowledge with readily accessible digital information based on documents that they have accessed or used. The paper presents work that provides foundations for this vision for a lifelong user model. First, it outlines technical issues and research into approaches for addressing them. Then it presents work on the interface between the learner and the lifelong user model because the human issues of control and privacy are so central. The final discussion and conclusions draw upon these to define a roadmap for future research in a selection of the key areas that will underpin this vision of the lifelong user model.