A model conception for optimal scenario determination in an intelligent learning system 1. INTRODUCTION Information society requires from people new ways of thinking and acting. Innovative and alternative thinking, cooperative and multilaterally condi- tioned action become the foundations of success in social and professional life. In consequence, con- stant and systematic learning (called long-life learn- ing) comes to be the order, and even necessary con- dition of human existence in the modern world. In this context e-Learning acquires larger and larger importance. It provides the possibility of learning at any time and anywhere. However, to guarantee effective learning, such system should go beyond and offer its users adaptive, dynamically changing, intelligent learning environments. To cope with this task the system should synthesize hypermedia structured information spaces with individual student’s needs resulting from his cogni- tive and learning style. The problem of incorporating learning styles in hypermedia environment has been investigated for some years. The increasing interest in this subject, resulting in creating Web-based learning tools and learning environments, is caused, among others, by “the phenomenal growth of the Internet and the Interactive Technology & Smart Education (2004) 1: 171–183 © 2004 Troubador Publishing Ltd. E. Kukla, N.T. Nguyen, C. Daniłowicz, J. Sobecki and M. Lenar Department of Information Systems, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland E-mail: {e.kukla,thanh,sobecki,danilowicz,lenar}@ pwr.wroc.pl In this paper a conception of the model for learning scenario determination is presented. We define the learning sce- nario as a sequence of the hypermedia pages, representing particular knowledge units, and tests related to them. The scenario determination is a dynamic process that begins when a new student takes up a course. The opening scenario for this student is chosen as the consensus of the final scenarios of the students, who have already finished this course, and who belong to a class of the learners similar to the new one. We have elaborated the consensus-based procedure for the scenario determination. Since this procedure operates on a set of similar learners, we have developed the con- ceptions of learner’s profile and students’ classification. The learner’s profile is proposed to include the attributes describing students’ personal data (as name, birthday etc.), their cognitive and learning styles as well as their usage data (represented by the learning scenarios). The students’ classification is based on a set of the basic attributes that seem to influence the learning effects. Their significance is verified during the learning process. We have also elabo- rated the procedure of reducing undistinguishable values of the attribute and removing useless attributes from the set of basic attributes. A learning procedure proposed, describes generally the situations when the scenario is modified, and the methods used for its modification. Keywords: intelligent tutoring system, multimedia learning environment, adaptive classification, student model, con- sensus method VOL 1 NO 3 AUGUST 2004 171