Using Graphs in Developing Educational Material Thanassis Hadzilacos, Dimitris Kalles, Dionysis Karaiskakis, Maria Pouliopoulou Hellenic Open University Laboratory of Educational Material and Educational Methodology Patras, Greece {thh,kalles,karaisk,mpouliop}@eap.gr Abstract. Distance learning institutions need to find a way to transplant the benefits of conventional tutoring practices into the development of digital content that is conducive to students’ learning needs. Therein lie two great challenges: promote real distance learning effectively and, at the same time, try to accommodate the ability of humans to learn via collaboration. We have proposed the development of Learner’s Open-and-Distance-Learning courses as both a theoretical model and an applied methodology to be one of our key priorities and describe how this concept co-evolves with web mining and institutional infrastructures. Keywords: distance learning, interactive learning and teaching tools, authoring tools, modelling 1 Introduction Developing an educational experience for a learner has at least two cornerstones: the existence of educational material and the organization of activities with that material. For example, a textbook is a repository of educational material. Reading it chapter by chapter is an educational activity. Consulting selected book parts when trying to solve an exercise is a totally different activity. Meaningful educational experiences are usually based on the organization of carefully designed activities on quality educational material. The shrewd organization and the careful design necessarily cover some aspects of resource planning, such as how much time the learner is supposed to dedicate to the activity or, what is the sequence of activities that will best attain the educational goal. They also cover conventional aspects of design, such as the target audience and, the combination of tools to attain the goal. Detailed planning of learning activities, apart from the significant effort needed by the course designer, reduces the control students have over their own learning [1]. Learner support services [2] were proposed to provide individualized advice, but usually at a significant cost, especially in large scale applications and in ODL. Also note that educational experiences can be turned into educational material themselves. For example, watching a fellow student carry out an experiment in chemistry certainly produces an educational experience. Furthermore indirect collaboration (based on observation, for example) can also significantly enhance the learning experience. Social Navigation [3] can be direct but Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Building Technology Enhanced Learning solutions for Communities of Practice 32