ArcForm as a Notational Foundation for e-Learning Systems

New e-learning systems often innovate by bringing together different content representation forms (multi-modality) and the orchestration of access to the individual representations (workflow). The representation forms themselves (e.g. prose text, algebraic equations, video, concept maps and many others) are the building blocks of new e-learning designs, however most of these representation forms predate the field of e-learning research or even digital media. A less usual approach to e-learning innovations is to design new representation forms. ArcForm (Allsopp, 2013) is a new network notation using nodes, arcs and labels. It uses arcs connecting two nodes to represent transitive statements, but it differs significantly from other network or graph based notations by for example also allowing arcs that point from or to other arcs and thereby supporting recursive composition of complex meanings. The result uniquely combines four areas of notational value: 1) It is similar to natural language - both in its expressiveness and in the way meanings are expressed. 2) It presents separate meanings as separate, though connected, tokens supporting a visuospatially intuitive experience similar to navigating a geographical map. 3) It is based on a simple syntax that allows meaning to be stored as structured data thereby supporting querying, filtering and the dynamic visualisation of content. 4) Finally, it allows individual meanings to be the object of online social evaluation. This notation can be considered as a foundation for a new category of e-learning systems. The idea is that these e-learning systems would allow users on a meaning by meaning (rather than a page by page) level to follow their own paths through available knowledge, to explore only what they find most interesting for their current learning goals, and to configure views that present content that they find relevant. One possibility is that it will allow students to develop and demonstrate reflective thinking independently of traditional essay writing skills. This is explored through an imagined scenario where a student interacts with one of these systems to create a new perspective using existing meanings.