Towards a trust model in e-learning

Abstract

When a student is faced with uncertainty in the trustworthiness of a learning activity to meet their intended learning goals, it may cause anxiety and a lack of confidence in the learning. A student’s trust in the learning activity is needed to reduce this uncertainty. This work develops a conceptual trust model for e-learning activities.

The proposed student’s trust model is the Learning Outcome-based Trust (LOT) model. The antecedents of trust are represented based on the intended learning outcome (ILO) structures and are used to estimate the trustworthiness values of the learning activity. Once values based on the antecedents of trust are known, these values are used to assess how much the student can trust the learning activity.

The LOT model was evaluate in two real learning situation: (1) where information about the trustworthiness of the learning activity was ambiguous, and (2) where information about the trustworthiness of the learning activity was clear. Students’ trust mainly related to their propensity to trust and their prior knowledge when the trustworthiness of the learning activity was ambiguous. In contrast, students’ trust mainly related to their perceived trustworthiness of the learning activity when the trustworthiness of the learning activity was clear. The LOT model showed significant prediction of student’s trust. In addition, when the student learning path was used, trust was predicted significantly better than when the learning path was not given.

The LOT model may have useful application in recommendation systems or intelligent tutoring systems.

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