Semantic SPA framework for situational student-project allocation in education

Abstract

Web 3.0 technologies have redefined the way classical problems in education are solved. The classical problems are constrained by interoperability challenges that can be addressed using semantic technologies. Student-project allocation (SPA) is one such classical problem in education, whose solution lies in finding a stable matching between student-project pairs. Although many methods exist to solve the SPA problem, recent developments in higher education, such as globalisation, has triggered interoperability challenge because of diversity in student and expert availability across disciplines, campuses, and universities. The author proposes the semantic SPA framework that addresses the interoperability challenge, by leveraging the existing semantic investments made by the educational institutions. The framework standardises the SPA data elements formally using semantic Web concepts, proposes reference ontology for the situational SPA problem, and adopts a semantic Web service approach, using OWL-S, for development. The OWL-S specification enables the automatic discovery, composition, and invocation of the Web services by educational Institutions or semantic agents on the Web, for situational SPA scenarios.