The Evolution of intelligent tutoring systems : Dimensions of Design (2)

The Evolution of intelligent tutoring systems : Dimensions of Design (1)

interactivityis undoubtedly the real strength and centerpiece of individualized instruction necessary to ITSs. The set of instructional activities in an ITS provides miniforums for investigating, exploring, and stimulating the learning processes (see Figure 1.2). 

An ITS capable of helping students learn complex problem-solving tasks requires extremely flexible human-machine interfaces. To achieve the goal of designing and implementing flexible tutoring environments, we must begin by defining student-computer interactions; the evolution of system design is moving toward student-centered, reactive learning environments. The microworld design possibilities instantiated are now in “play” or “exploratory” environments capable of being realized in practical interactions in “real” domains. Advances in interface design have allowed us to explore more complex reasoning tasks, so researchers should now focus on the question of developing more fonnal specification tools that can be used to describe user behavior, independent of software implementation. This methodology resolves the problem of defining functionally equivalent but stylistically different interfaces, 

Ideas about how people learn to read and write should also inform the construction and evaluation of ITSs. More than being able to represent the perspective of student users, more than seeing through student eyesrather than through the eyes of developers, computer scientists, or domain