This paper sought to accomplish three goals. First, it provided a systematic, comparative review of several intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). Second, it summarized problems and solutions presented and solved by developers of ITS by consolidating the knowledge of the field into a single review. Third, it provided a unified language from which ITS can be reviewed and understood in the same context. The findings of this review centered on the 5-Component Framework. The first component, the domain model, showed that most ITS are focused on science, technology, and mathematics. Within these fields, ITS generally have mastery learning as the desired level of understanding. The second component, the tutor model, showed that constructivism is the theoretical strategy that informs most ITS. The tutoring tactics employed in the ITS stem from this paradigm. The third component, the student model, describes the several ways ITS infer what a student knows. It described the variety of data that is collected by an ITS and how it is used to build the student model. The fourth component, the interface, revealed that most ITS are now web-based, but vary in their capacity to interact with students. It also showed that user experience is underreported and ought to be included more in the research. Finally, the fifth component, learning gains, demonstrated that ITS are capable of producing learning gains equivalent to a human tutor. However, reporting learning gains does not seem to be a focus of the literature.

With the help of the internet, teaching is not constrained in the traditional classroom pedagogy; the instructors can put the course material on the website and allow the students go on to the course webpage as an alternative way to learn the domain knowledge. The problem here is how to design a web-based system that is intelligent and adaptive enough to teach the students domain knowledge in Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). In my research, I proposed a system architecture which combines the pre-test, cased-based reasoning (i.e., heuristic functions), tutorials and tests of the domain concepts, and post-test (i.e., including pre-exam and post-exam) to customize students’ needs according to their knowledge levels and help them learn the PLC concepts effectively. I have developed an intelligent tutoring system which is mainly based on the feedback and learning preference of the users’ questionnaires. It includes many pictures, colorful diagrams, and interesting animations (i.e., switch control of the user’s rung configuration) to attract the users’ attention. From the model simulation results, a knowledge proficiency effect occurs on problem-solving time. If the students are more knowledgeable about PLC concepts, they will take less time to complete problems than those who are not as proficient. Additionally, from the system experiments, the results indicate that the learning algorithm in this system is robust enough to pinpoint the most accurate error pattern (i.e., almost 90 percent accuracy of mapping to the most similar error pattern), and the adaptive system will have a higher accuracy of discerning the error patterns which are close to the answers of the PLC problems when the databases have more built-in error patterns. The participant evaluation indicates that after using this system, the users will learn how to solve the problems and have a much better performance than before. After evaluating the tutoring system, we also ask the participants to submit the survey (feedback), which will be taken into serious consideration in our future work.

With the help of the internet, teaching is not constrained in the traditional classroom pedagogy; the instructors can put the course material on the website and allow the students go on to the course webpage as an alternative way to learn the domain knowledge. The problem here is how to design a web-based system that is intelligent and adaptive enough to teach the students domain knowledge in Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). In my research, I proposed a system architecture which combines the pre-test, cased-based reasoning (i.e., heuristic functions), tutorials and tests of the domain concepts, and post-test (i.e., including pre-exam and post-exam) to customize students’ needs according to their knowledge levels and help them learn the PLC concepts effectively. I have developed an intelligent tutoring system which is mainly based on the feedback and learning preference of the users’ questionnaires. It includes many pictures, colorful diagrams, and interesting animations (i.e., switch control of the user’s rung configuration) to attract the users’ attention. From the model simulation results, a knowledge proficiency effect occurs on problem-solving time. If the students are more knowledgeable about PLC concepts, they will take less time to complete problems than those who are not as proficient. Additionally, from the system experiments, the results indicate that the learning algorithm in this system is robust enough to pinpoint the most accurate error pattern (i.e., almost 90 percent accuracy of mapping to the most similar error pattern), and the adaptive system will have a higher accuracy of discerning the error patterns which are close to the answers of the PLC problems when the databases have more built-in error patterns. The participant evaluation indicates that after using this system, the users will learn how to solve the problems and have a much better performance than before. After evaluating the tutoring system, we also ask the participants to submit the survey (feedback), which will be taken into serious consideration in our future work.

Teamwork is crucial to many disciplines, from activities such as organized sports to economic and military organizations. Team training is difficult and as yet there are few automated tools to assist in the training task. As with the training of individuals, effective training depends upon practice and proper training protocols. In this research, we defined a team training framework for constructing team training systems in domains involving command and control teams. This team training framework provides an underlying model of teamwork and programming interfaces to provide services that ease the construction of team training systems. Also, the framework enables experimentation with training protocols and coaching to be conducted more readily, as team training systems incorporating new protocols or coaching capabilities can be more easily built. For this framework (called CAST-ITT) we developed an underlying intelligent agent architecture known as CAST (Collaborative Agents Simulating Teamwork). CAST provides the underlying model of teamwork and agents to simulate virtual team members. CAST-ITT (Intelligent Team Trainer) uses CAST to also monitor trainees, and support performance assessment and coaching for the purposes of evaluating the performance of a trainee as a member of a team. CAST includes a language for describing teamwork called MALLET (Multi-Agent Logic Language for Encoding Teamwork). MALLET allows us to codify the behaviors of team members (both as virtual agents and as trainees) for use by CAST. In demonstrating CAST-ITT through an implemented team training system called TWP-DDD we have shown that a team training system can be built that uses the framework (CAST-ITT) and has good performance and can be used for achieving real world training objectives.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-127).

This dissertation investigates the issue of shadow education in Hong Kong. It addresses the phenomenal choice for many secondary school students to attend private tutorial classes in addition to mainstream schooling with a comparative study. Two schools offering supplementary tutoring in Hong Kong – a locally-based private tutorial chain-store and an American-franchised learning centre – are selected for inquiry into students’ educational needs and how the schools respond to the needs through their curriculum. The schools are compared in terms of curriculum content, teaching mode, and assessment. The study reveals a gap between what is taught in mainstream schools and what is assessed in public examinations, leading local secondary school students to turn to tutorial schools for examination skills, the right to choose their own coaches, and extra training opportunities. Both tutorial schools respond to these needs by spicing up the learning environment, providing frequent assessments, and letting students choose their own learning style and pace. The two schools, however, are found to be very different when it comes to class sizes, business orientations, and approaches to teaching. The two different models of tutorial school are compared. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Background & Problem discussion: In recent years, private tutoring in Hong Kong and elsewhere has expanded into a vast enterprise. Private supplementary tutoring could be found in Japan and many other countries. Private supplementary tutoring has for decades been provided to primary and secondary school children in Hong Kong. During recent years, there is an increasing number of preschool children who receive private supplementary tutoring. However, it is less vigorous at this level compared to primary and secondary schools. Rather than that, most of the research done has been focused on the factors underlying the demand for private supplementary tutoring for primary and secondary levels, but less focus on the determinants of demand for private supplementary tutoring for preschoolers. Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation is to identify the determinants of demand for private supplementary tutoring for preschool children in Tsuen Wan New Town in Hong Kong. Theoretical framework: The history of preschool education in Hong Kong since 1950s is presented. Moreover, factors underlying the demand for private supplementary tutoring for primary and secondary levels in two contexts, particularly Asia and Europe are presented. Such theory assisted me in identifying the determinant of demands for private tutoring for preschool children in Tsuen Wan New Town. Method: A qualitative research approach is applied to the dissertation. I have conducted face-to face interviews with four parents whose children study in Discovery Funful Kindergarten in Tsuen Wan New Town. All of the interviews were tape-recorded. Conclusion: The findings show that parents’ attitude towards private supplementary tutoring are positive. Four of the parents perceived tutoring as essential and supplement to kindergarten. They believed that supplementary tutoring could bring a lot of benefits to their children and they recognized the importance of private tutoring. They perceived academic results were not the only determinants when considering sending their children to private tutoring; other determinants of demand particularly personal determinants did play important role. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 1998

This dissertation is concerned with the detailed accounts of twenty-one students who participated in a peer tutoring program known as Supplemental Instruction (S.I.) In this approach, the development of students’ study skills through weekly peer tutoring sessions, is built on particular subject curriculum, not separate from it. In this study the subject selected was Statistics for Marketers. The approach is designed to assist students to succeed in ‘high risk subjects’ through voluntary attendance at the S.I. sessions. / The central question to this study was how can students’ critical awareness of their learning experience while participating in an S.I. group, inform our teaching practice in universities, at a time when we are facing an incredibly challenging, competitive environment. The interest in S.I. stemmed from its links with the concept of peer monitoring as a learning strategy, studied in earlier research. It appeared to offer an innovative first year intervention strategy, at a time when Australian universities are beginning to compete more openly in offering students high quality teaching and learning. Research to date had not investigated to any depth how the approach worked nor gained any detailed student accounts of their learning experiences in an S.I. program. (For complete abstract open document)