12 research outputs found
Embedded Training for Complex Information Systems
One approach to providing affordable operator training in the workplace is to augment applications with intelligent embedded training systems (ETS). Intelligent embedded training is highly interactive: trainees practice realistic problem-solving tasks on the prime application with guidance and feedback from the training system. This article makes three contributions to the theory and technology of ETS design. First, we describe a framework based on Normanâs âstages of user activityâ model for defining the instructional objectives of an ETS. Second, we demonstrate a non-invasive approach to instrumenting software applications, thereby enabling them to collaborate with an ETS. Third, we describe a method for interpreting observed user behavior during problem solving, and using that information to provide task-oriented hints on demand
Evaluating and improving adaptive educational systems with learning curves
Personalised environments such as adaptive educational systems can be evaluated and compared using performance curves. Such summative studies are useful for determining whether or not new modifications enhance or degrade performance. Performance curves also have the potential to be utilised in formative studies that can shape adaptive model design at a much finer level of granularity. We describe the use of learning curves for evaluating personalised educational systems and outline some of the potential pitfalls and how they may be overcome. We then describe three studies in which we demonstrate how learning curves can be used to drive changes in the user model. First, we show how using learning curves for subsets of the domain model can yield insight into the appropriateness of the modelâs structure. In the second study we use this method to experiment with model granularity. Finally, we use learning curves to analyse a large volume of user data to explore the feasibility of using them as a reliable method for fine-tuning a systemâs model. The results of these experiments demonstrate the successful use of performance curves in formative studies of adaptive educational systems
Instructional authoring by direct manipulation of simulations: Exploratory applications of RAPIDS. RAPIDS 2 authoring manual
RAPIDS II is a simulation-based intelligent tutoring system environment. It is a system for producing computer-based training courses that are built on the foundation of graphical simulations. RAPIDS II simulations can be animated and they can have continuously updating elements
History of the town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, from the date of the Masonian charter to the present time, 1749-1880: with a genealogical register of the Jaffrey families, and an appendix containing the proceedings of the centennial celebration in 1873.
Genealogical register: p. [209]-526
The social organisation of vulnerability : a case study of the Moreton region floods of Australia Day, 1974
Widening the Knowledge Acquisition Bottleneck for Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Empirical studies have shown that Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) are effective tools for education. However, developing an ITS is a labour-intensive and time-consuming process. A major share of the development effort is devoted to acquiring the domain knowledge that accounts for the intelligence of the system. The goal of this research is to reduce the knowledge acquisition bottleneck and enable domain experts to build the domain model required for an ITS. In pursuit of this goal an authoring system capable of producing a domain model with the assistance of a domain expert was developed. Unlike previous authoring systems, this system (named CAS) has the ability to acquire knowledge for non-procedural as well as procedural tasks. CAS was developed to generate the knowledge required for constraint-based tutoring systems, reducing the effort as well as the amount of expertise in knowledge engineering and programming required. Constraint-based modelling is a student modelling technique that assists in somewhat easing the knowledge acquisition bottleneck due to the abstract representation. CAS expects the domain expert to provide an ontology of the domain, example problems and their solutions. It uses machine learning techniques to reason with the information provided by the domain expert for generating a domain model. A series of evaluation studies of this research produced promising results. The initial evaluation revealed that the task of composing an ontology of the domain assisted with the manual composition of a domain model. The second study showed that CAS was effective in generating constraints for the three vastly different domains of database modelling, data normalisation and fraction addition. The final study demonstrated that CAS was also effective in generating constraints when assisted by novice ITS authors, producing constraint sets that were over 90% complete
Des meÌta-modeÌles pour guider lâeÌlicitation des connaissances en EIAH : contributions aÌ lâenseignement de meÌthodes et aÌ la personnalisation des activiteÌs
Les travaux prĂ©sentĂ©s dans ce mĂ©moire d'habilitation Ă diriger des recherches portent sur lâĂ©licitation des connaissances dans le cadre de lâingĂ©nierie des EIAH (Environnements Informatiques pour lâApprentissage Humain). Deux thĂ©matiques de recherche ont Ă©tĂ© explorĂ©es : lâenseignement de mĂ©thodes de rĂ©solution de problĂšmes et la personnalisation des EIAH. Les contributions Ă lâĂ©licitation des connaissances dans ces deux thĂ©matiques sont des modĂšles et outils permettant Ă un utilisateur humain de dĂ©finir les connaissances nĂ©cessaires au systĂšme pour proposer Ă lâapprenant un contenu pĂ©dagogique personnalisĂ©, que ce soit un exercice, une rĂ©troaction ou une recommandation.Lâapproche choisie pour rĂ©pondre Ă la problĂ©matique de lâĂ©licitation des connaissances est de proposer, pour chacune des questions de recherche abordĂ©es, un mĂ©ta-modĂšle des connaissances Ă acquĂ©rir, indĂ©pendant du domaine dâapprentissage. Ce mĂ©ta-modĂšle permet de guider lâutilisateur humain (concepteur, expert, auteur, enseignant) dans la dĂ©finition dâun modĂšle de connaissances, qui sera lui dĂ©pendant du domaine. Le mĂ©ta-modĂšle proposĂ© permet Ă©galement de dĂ©finir un moteur de raisonnement associĂ©, capable dâexploiter tout modĂšle de connaissances conforme au mĂ©ta-modĂšle. Ce moteur de raisonnement exploite le modĂšle de connaissances dĂ©fini par lâutilisateur, afin dâaccomplir les tĂąches nĂ©cessaires Ă lâaccompagnement par lâEIAH dâune activitĂ© dâapprentissage.En ce qui concerne lâenseignement de mĂ©thodes, les architectures proposĂ©es, rassemblant mĂ©ta-modĂšles et moteurs de raisonnement, permettent de dĂ©finir, dans un domaine donnĂ©, une mĂ©thode de rĂ©solution de problĂšmes et les connaissances destinĂ©es Ă accompagner lâĂ©lĂšve dans son apprentissage de la mĂ©thode. Dans un domaine donnĂ©, une mĂ©thode de rĂ©solution de problĂšmes est constituĂ©e par un ensemble de classes de problĂšme et dâoutils de rĂ©solution associĂ©s Ă ces classes. Nous avons proposĂ© le cycle AMBRE, mis en Ćuvre dans plusieurs EIAH, et qui incite lâapprenant Ă rĂ©soudre des problĂšmes par analogie afin dâacquĂ©rir les classes de problĂšmes de la mĂ©thode.Pour ce qui est de la personnalisation des EIAH, lâobjectif de ces recherches est dâadapter Ă chaque apprenant les activitĂ©s qui lui sont proposĂ©es au sein dâun EIAH. Nous avons proposĂ© des mĂ©ta-modĂšles et des outils fondĂ©s sur ces mĂ©ta-modĂšles, outils destinĂ©s Ă un utilisateur ne possĂ©dant pas forcĂ©ment de compĂ©tences poussĂ©es en informatique, comme un enseignant ou un auteur de MOOC. Ces outils lui permettent de mettre en place un processus de personnalisation complet, en dĂ©finissant dâune part comment Ă©laborer des profils dâapprenant Ă partir des traces de lâactivitĂ© des apprenants avec lâEIAH, dans le but dâidentifier les besoins de chacun, en dĂ©finissant dâautre part des modĂšles dâexercices permettant la gĂ©nĂ©ration dâactivitĂ©s rĂ©pondant Ă des besoins spĂ©cifiques, et en prĂ©cisant enfin selon quelle stratĂ©gie affecter des exercices adaptĂ©s au profil de chaque apprenant