A generic architecture for interactive intelligent tutoring systems

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 07/06/2001.This research is focused on developing a generic intelligent architecture for an interactive tutoring system. A review of the literature in the areas of instructional theories, cognitive and social views of learning, intelligent tutoring systems development methodologies, and knowledge representation methods was conducted. As a result, a generic ITS development architecture (GeNisa) has been proposed, which combines the features of knowledge base systems (KBS) with object-oriented methodology. The GeNisa architecture consists of the following components: a tutorial events communication module, which encapsulates the interactive processes and other independent computations between different components; a software design toolkit; and an autonomous knowledge acquisition from a probabilistic knowledge base. A graphical application development environment includes tools to support application development, and learning environments and which use a case scenario as a basis for instruction. The generic architecture is designed to support client-side execution in a Web browser environment, and further testing will show that it can disseminate applications over the World Wide Web. Such an architecture can be adapted to different teaching styles and domains, and reusing instructional materials automatically can reduce the effort of the courseware developer (hence cost and time) in authoring new materials. GeNisa was implemented using Java scripts, and subsequently evaluated at various commercial and academic organisations. Parameters chosen for the evaluation include quality of courseware, relevancy of case scenarios, portability to other platforms, ease of use, content, user-friendliness, screen display, clarity, topic interest, and overall satisfaction with GeNisa. In general, the evaluation focused on the novel characteristics and performances of the GeNisa architecture in comparison with other ITS and the results obtained are discussed and analysed. On the basis of the experience gained during the literature research and GeNisa development and evaluation. a generic methodology for ITS development is proposed as well as the requirements for the further development of ITS tools. Finally, conclusions are drawn and areas for further research are identified

How Simulation can Illuminate Pedagogical and System Design Issues in Dynamic Open Ended Learning Environments

A Dynamic Open-Ended Learning Environment (DOELE) is a collection of learners and learning objects (LOs) that could be constantly changing. In DOELEs, learners need the support of Advanced Learning Technology (ALT), but most ALT is not designed to run in such environments. An architecture for designing advanced learning technology that is compatible with DOELEs is the ecological approach (EA). This thesis looks at how to test and develop ALT based on the EA, and argues that this process would benefit from the use of simulation. The essential components of an EA-based simulation are: simulated learners, simulated LOs, and their simulated interactions. In this thesis the value of simulation is demonstrated with two experiments. The first experiment focuses on the pedagogical issue of peer impact, how learning is impacted by the performance of peers. By systematically varying the number and type of learners and LOs in a DOELE, the simulation uncovers behaviours that would otherwise go unseen. The second experiment shows how to validate and tune a new instructional planner built on the EA, the Collaborative Filtering based on Learning Sequences planner (CFLS). When the CFLS planner is configured appropriately, simulated learners achieve higher performance measurements that those learners using the baseline planners. Simulation results lead to predictions that ultimately need to be proven in the real world, but even without real world validation such predictions can be useful to researchers to inform the ALT system design process. This thesis work shows that it is not necessary to model all the details of the real world to come to a better understanding of a pedagogical issue such as peer impact. And, simulation allowed for the design of the first known instructional planner to be based on usage data, the CFLS planner. The use of simulation for the design of EA-based systems opens new possibilities for instructional planning without knowledge engineering. Such systems can find niche learning paths that may have never been thought of by a human designer. By exploring pedagogical and ALT system design issues for DOELEs, this thesis shows that simulation is a valuable addition to the toolkit for ALT researchers

Metamodel for personalized adaptation of pedagogical strategies using metacognition in Intelligent Tutoring Systems

The modeling process of metacognitive functions in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) is a difficult and time-consuming task. In particular when the integration of several metacognitive components, such as self-regulation and metamemory is needed. Metacognition has been used in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the performance of complex systems such as ITS. However the design ITS with metacognitive capabilities is a complex task due to the number and complexity of processes involved. The modeling process of ITS is in itself a difficult task and often requires experienced designers and programmers, even when using authoring tools. In particular the design of the pedagogical strategies for an ITS is complex and requires the interaction of a number of variables that define it as a dynamic process. This doctoral thesis presents a metamodel for the personalized adaptation of pedagogical strategies integrating metamemory and self-regulation in ITS. The metamodel called MPPSM (Metamodel of Personalized adaptation of Pedagogical Strategies using Metacognition in intelligent tutoring systems) was synthetized from the analysis of 40 metacognitive models and 45 ITS models that exist in the literature. MPPSMhas a conceptual architecture with four levels of modeling according to the standard Meta- Object Facility (MOF) of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) methodology. MPPSM enables designers to have modeling tools in early stage of software development process to produce more robust ITS that are able to self-regulate their own reasoning and learning processes. In this sense, a concrete syntax composed of a graphic notation called M++ was defined in order to make the MPPSM metamodel more usable. M++ is a Domain-Specific Visual Language (DSVL) for modeling metacognition in ITS. M++ has approximately 20 tools for modeling metacognitive systems with introspective monitoring and meta-level control. MPPSM allows the generation of metacognitive models using M++ in a visual editor named MetaThink. In MPPSM-based models metacognitive components required for monitoring and executive control of the reasoning processes take place in each module of an ITS can be specified. MPPSM-based models represent the cycle of reasoning of an ITS about: (i) failures generated in its own reasoning tasks (e.g. self-regulation); and (ii) anomalies in events that occur in its Long-Term Memory (LTM) (e.g. metamemory). A prototype of ITS called FUNPRO was developed for the validation of the performance of metacognitive mechanism of MPPSM in the process of the personalization of pedagogical strategies regarding to the preferences and profiles of real students. FUNPRO uses self-regulation to monitor and control the processes of reasoning at object-level and metamemory for the adaptation to changes in the constraints of information retrieval tasks from LTM. The major contributions of this work are: (i) the MOF-based metamodel for the personalization of pedagogical strategies using computational metacognition in ITS; (ii) the M++ DSVL for modeling metacognition in ITS; and (iii) the ITS prototype called FUNPRO (FUNdamentos de PROgramación) that aims to provide personalized instruction in the subject of Introduction to Programming. The results given in the experimental tests demonstrate: (i) metacognitive models generated are consistent with the MPPSM metamodel; (ii) positive perceptions of users with respect to the proposed DSVL and it provide preliminary information concerning the quality of the concrete syntax of M++; (iii) in FUNPRO, multi-level pedagogical model enhanced with metacognition allows the dynamic adaptation of the pedagogical strategy according to the profile of each student.Doctorad

Interactive Narrative for Adaptive Educational Games: Architecture and an Application to Character Education

This thesis presents AEINS, Adaptive Educational Interactive Narrative System, that supports teaching ethics for 8-12 year old children. AEINS is designed based on Keller's and Gagné's learning theories. The idea is centered around involving students in moral dilemmas (called teaching moments) within which the Socratic Method is used as the teaching pedagogy. The important unique aspect of AEINS is that it exhibits the presence of four features shown to individually increase effectiveness of edugames environments, yet not integrated together in past research: a student model, a dynamic generated narrative, scripted branched narrative and evolving non-player characters. The student model aims to provide adaptation. The dynamic generated narrative forms a continuous story that glues the scripted teaching moments together. The evolving agents increase the realism and believability of the environment and perform a recognized pedagogical role by helping in supplying the educational process. AEINS has been evaluated intrinsically and empirically according to the following themes: architecture and implementation, social aspects, and educational achievements. The intrinsic evaluation checked the implicit goals embodied by the design aspects and made a value judgment about these goals. In the empirical evaluation, twenty participants were assigned to use AEINS over a number of games. The evaluation showed positive results as the participants appreciated the social characteristics of the system as they were able to recognize the genuine social aspects and the realism represented in the game. Finally, the evaluation showed indications for developing new lines of thinking for some participants to the extent that some of them were ready to carry the experience forward to the real world. However, the evaluation also suggested possible improvements, such as the use of 3D interface and free text natural language

Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Planning Tecniques: A Systematic Review

Planning is a problem-solving method that produces an action sequence (i.e. plan) to achieve a goal. Instructional Planning is a central issue to develop adaptive educational software and Intelligent Tutoring Systems. The objective of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of planning techniques used in ITS in the last twenty years. In this review, 969 papers in 6 digital reference libraries extensively used by computer science researchers were identified. After a selection process using the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 relevant papers were chosen. The results present the existence of a relevant research gap. Among the retrieved papers, no document which uses Goal Reasoning-based planning techniques was found, and more specifically, no system that use the process of autonomy based on goals.Planning is a problem-solving method that produces an action sequence (i.e. plan) to achieve a goal. Instructional Planning is a central issue to develop adaptive educational software and Intelligent Tutoring Systems. The objective of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of planning techniques used in ITS in the last twenty years. In this review, 969 papers in 6 digital reference libraries extensively used by computer science researchers were identified. After a selection process using the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 relevant papers were chosen. The results present the existence of a relevant research gap. Among the retrieved papers, no document which uses Goal Reasoning-based planning techniques was found, and more specifically, no system that use the process of autonomy based on goals

A methodology for evaluating intelligent tutoring systems

DissertationThis dissertation proposes a generic methodology for evaluating intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), and applies it to the evaluation of the SQL-Tutor, an ITS for the database language SQL. An examination of the historical development, theory and architecture of intelligent tutoring systems, as well as the theory, architecture and behaviour of the SQL-Tutor sets the context for this study. The characteristics and criteria for evaluating computer-aided instruction (CAl) systems are considered as a background to an in-depth investigation of the characteristics and criteria appropriate for evaluating ITSs. These criteria are categorised along internal and external dimensions with the internal dimension focusing on the intrinsic features and behavioural aspects of ITSs, and the external dimension focusing on its educational impact. Several issues surrounding the evaluation of ITSs namely, approaches, methods, techniques and principles are examined, and integrated within a framework for assessing the added value of ITS technology for instructional purposes.Educational StudiesM. Sc. (Information Systems

Personalisation in MOOCs: a critical literature review

The advent and rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have brought many issues to the area of educational technology. Researchers in the field have been addressing these issues such as pedagogical quality of MOOCs, high attrition rates, and sustainability of MOOCs. However, MOOCs personalisation has not been subject of the wide discussions around MOOCs. This paper presents a critical literature survey and analysis of the available literature on personalisation in MOOCs to identify the needs, the current states and efforts to personalise learning in MOOCs. The findings illustrate that there is a growing attention to personalisation to improve learners’ individual learning experiences in MOOCs. In order to implement personalised services, personalised learning path, personalised assessment and feedback, personalised forum thread and recommendation service for related learning materials or learning tasks are commonly applied