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.