International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR) ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-3, Issue-5, May 2015 429 www.erpublication.org Abstract— The problem of laboratories in tertiary education, especially in polytechnic universities, is particularly acute. el-Chem is an application deployed to assist students in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Chemistry Department [1]. After study [2] have emerged some weaknesses in the application el - Chem. In the new study proposed to amend the application by using multi-agent system. The use of intelligent agents will be a tool not only for students but also for teachers. Its importance for teaching staff will be two-fold, since it frees them from bureaucratic procedures and also provides for professor and student self-assessments. Index Terms— e-learning, multi-agent systems, formative assessment. I. INTRODUCTION Tertiary education in Greece is characterized by many peculiarities. One of the most important is that students are able to enroll in the next year of studies, regardless of how many courses they have managed to complete successfully. The second peculiarity is that the term of studies is not fixed. In accordance with the most recent law on new enrollments, the years of study correspond to n+2 years (where n is the standard years of study at any faculty). The term of studies is 2n+2 for old students, which leads to the phenomenon of so called "eternal students". Thus, it is concluded that Greek students can attend the final semester of their studies even if they have not already passed their first semester courses. Bearing in mind that attendance of certain theory-based courses is not compulsory at Greek universities, many students focus on laboratory courses; as a result they fail to pass the theory-based courses for their regular teaching semester. A large number of students who had to move from their fixed residence to another city for the sake of their studies, return back home upon successful completion of their laboratory courses. Being far away from University, these students are obliged to prepare themselves for exams. It is a fact that distance and place of residence reinforces inequalities among students. In his study, Hamnett [3] shows that distance constitutes a determining factor that reinforces inequalities among students. Similarly, Peterson [4] focuses not only on distance, but also on the differentiation of students’ residence. The same results are described in Rivkin’s study [5]. In tertiary education, and especially in natural sciences, one further laboratory-related problem needs also to be tackled. Hofstein [6] makes particular reference to the importance of laboratories for the consolidation of theoretical concepts, Anna Thysiadou, Department of Chemistry/Aristotle University of Thessaloniki/Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece Sofoklis Christoforidis, Manager of Department ICT of Library of Technological Education Institute of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, 65404 Kavala Greece Panagiotis Jannakoudakis, Department of Chemistry/Aristotle University of Thessaloniki/Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece particularly of chemistry concepts. In the present study conducted at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Department of Chemistry) revealed many alarming findings:  First semester students have better knowledge of water chemistry compared to students who have completed of 8 semesters;  Students who have completed the study program 8 semesters, although that they have attended the laboratory classes and they have successfully examined in them face difficulties in water chemistry. The studies of Hofstein [6] and Rivkin [5] confirm that natural science education laboratories, especially chemistry laboratories, are key to the successful learning of chemical phenomena. In the context of aiding students, a presentation-based learning system was developed for the Physics-Chemistry and Environment laboratory course. This application, apart from the theory-based part, also includes audiovisual materials thoroughly describing the experiments related to the water analysis and measurement of physicochemical parameters. The target of the new application is to assist students attending the Physics-Chemistry course, as well as the graduates of the Department of Chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. This application is composed of the following parts:  The theory-based part which describes the basic principles of the subject matter for a certain laboratory.  A video showing all steps of the experiment.  Multiple-choice test questions to assess the learner’s comprehension of the particular subject matter.  Project exercises aiming at improving the learners’ grades. The scope of the new system will begins when students are enrolled at the Department of Chemistry. Passwords are automatically issued will allowing students to sign in the application. Once logged in, students will may access and study the theory-based part, and then watch the experiment video. Students will may only proceed to the assessment questions once they have accessed both the theory-based part and the video. These questions, four in total, are randomly will selected out of 10 questions from the database. Each question is followed by 4 suggested answers; only one is true. Therefore, provided that they have accessed the theory-based part and video, learners are then able to answer the multiple-choice questions. The difficulty level of these questions is varied; there are two low level (easy) questions, one medium level question and one high level (difficult) question. The score for each learner being assessed is calculated by the system, from zero to ten. The ranking of questions per level is shown in the Table 1. Smart e-learning systems in tertiary education Anna Thysiadou, Sofoklis Christoforidis, Panagiotis Jannakoudakis