Intelligent Tutoring Systems
This post was triggered by an email I received for papers for a conference. One of the suggested topics was Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Here is what Wikipedia says about ITS:
An intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is any computer system that provides direct customized instruction or feedback to students, i.e. without the intervention of human beings, whilst performing a task. [1] Thus, ITS implements the theory of learning by doing.
It occurred to me that a simple system can be modeled (and tried) with AIML (artificial intelligence markup language) to provide introductory courses in several subjects. There is an AIML engine available written in Python called PyAIML. We already tried a simple student project (a help system for SugarCRM) using this engine.
The UI can be implemented using Processing or some other similar powerful visualization tool. The visual models can also be built using a Visualization Modeling Language (on top of SVG). A better method, would be to blend an instant messenger like chat interface, with a response window that supports simple graphics (to display diagrams). To do a project like this, we need the following: 1. A customizable chat (based on Jabber or some other similar client)2. A surface that can display not only text but simple graphics
3. A KB built on something like AIML
4. Content customized towards teaching an introductory subject
5. A simple visualization interface like Processing
This is certainly an exciting area to explore for some student projects. A few good tools to create content in AIML format would be a great first step.
