Clustering of the Web Search Results in Educational Recommender Systems

Abstract

This chapter presents a meta-search approach, meant to deliver bibliography from the internet, according to trainees’ results obtained at an e-assessment task. The bibliography consists of web pages related to the knowledge gaps of the trainees. The meta-search engine is part of an education recommender system, attached to an e-assessment application for project management knowledge. Meta-search means that, for a specific query (or mistake made by the trainee), several search mechanisms for suitable bibliography (further reading) could be applied. The lists of results delivered by the standard search mechanisms are used to build thematically homogenous groups using an ontology-based clustering algorithm. The clustering process uses an educational ontology and WordNet lexical database to create its categories. The research is presented in the context of recommender systems and their various applications to the education domain.