I am presenting a short talk at the 42nd Conference of Research and Development by Tecnologico de Monterrey (CIDTEC) in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. January 2012.

Summary

Intelligent Tutoring Systems seem capable of becoming an alternative to expert human tutors; they are able to provide direct customized instruction and feedback to students. Although Intelligent Tutoring Systems could differ widely in their attached knowledge bases and user interfaces (including interaction mechanisms), their behaviors are quite similar; then, it must be possible to establish a common software model for them. A common software model is a step forward to move these systems from proof-of-concepts and academic research tools to widely available tools in schools and homes. The work reported here addresses: (1) the use of design patterns to create an object-oriented software model for Intelligent Tutoring Systems; (2) the application of the model into a two-year development project; (3) the qualities achieved and trade-offs made. Besides that, this paper describes our experience using patterns, and the impact in facts such as creating a common language among stakeholders, supporting an incremental development and adjustment to a highly shifting developing team. We mapped the functional description of ITS behavior into a software model using design patterns, and we proposed this model as a software model for new Intelligent Tutoring Systems implementation. Using design patterns we addressed the creation of the model and look forward to incorporate non- functional elements (i.e. software quality factors) particularly reusability, extensibility, and flexibility. These qualities help us to address the contextual elements mentioned above: incremental requirements, changing requirements and changing team. With this approach we are attempting to make our contribution to move ITS construction from software development as a one-of- a-kind endeavor to software development as a system of components that are widely used and highly adaptable. This paper is organized as follows: section 2 provides some terminology and background summary about ITS and patterns; section 3 explores ITS functional specification and the design process using patterns to model ITS software components; section 4 describes our experience using our pattern-based model into the AMT project and evaluates pros and cons; finally, section 5 concludes the paper and describes ongoing work.

Source

Conference Paper.
Proceedings of 18th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs.
HillSide Group & Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Companion

42nd Conference of Research and Development by Tecnologico de Monterrey

Reference

Gonzalez Sanchez J., Chavez Echeagaray M., VanLehn K., Burleson W. (2012). From Behavioral Description to A Pattern-Based Model for Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Companion of the 42nd Conference of Research and Development by Tecnologico de Monterrey. Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. January 2012. Page 217. ISBN: 978-607-501-073-1