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Beyond intelligent tutoring systems: Situations, interactions, processes and affordances

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Abstract

The idea of an intelligentsystem to support learning has been epitomisedby that of an intelligent tutoring system(ITS). However, ITSs are, in fact, just aparticular kind of intelligent system tosupport learning whose components reflect thevalues of the particular view that ITSsemphasise in regard to the nature of knowledge,learning and teaching, which have led to anarchitecture that focuses on representing theknowledge to be learned (domain model),inferring the learner's knowledge (learnermodel), and planning instructional steps to thelearner (teaching model). On the other hand,other views of learning may lead to differentneeds in terms of knowledge representation,reasoning, and decision making capabilities inthe intelligent systems that support them.Constructivist views, for example, emphasisedifferent values and may require an entirelydifferent architecture of intelligent system tosupport its philosophy of learning. This paperpresents an architecture of an intelligentsystem to support learning that is able toaddress the issues that arise fromconstructivist theories of learning in a waythat, rather than opposing to the standard ITSarchitecture, characterises a broader view inall its components which can be appropriatelyattuned to address the issues of particularphilosophies.

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Akhras, F.N., Self, J.A. Beyond intelligent tutoring systems: Situations, interactions, processes and affordances. Instructional Science 30, 1–30 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013544300305

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