Evolving learning in the stuff swamp

Abstract

In this chapter we will be discussing a range of issues which surround the problems of adult learners searching for reliable and useful information on the Internet. Our approach is firmly evolutionary. Although some existing approaches such as collaborative filtering use broadly evolutionary mechanisms (inasmuch as they are based on the survival of the fittest) to assist this process, they provide inadequate speciation to provide for differing learning needs. We describe and explain the theory behind a self-organising adaptive system (CoFIND, a Collaborative Filter In N Dimensions) which we have been developing to allow groups of learners to learn by collaboratively generating and giving structure to lists of learning resources.