Making Cognitive Tutors Easier

There are (essentially) two types of e-learning systems:

  1. Cognitive tutors – which emphasize deeper problem solving skills
  2. Curriculum sequencing  – which don’t diagnose cognitive skills but adapt engagement in various ways

For a good overview, see:

  • Desmarais, Michel C., and Ryan SJ d Baker. “A review of recent advances in learner and skill modeling in intelligent learning environments.” User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction 22.1-2 (2012): 9-38.

The following is discussed in that article with regard to two approaches to deeper cognitive tutoring.

One of the reasons that cognitive tutors are not more pervasive is that the knowledge engineering required for each problem is significant.  And that knowledge engineering involves a lot of technical skill.

We’re trying to bend the cost curve for deeper (i.e., more cognitive) tutoring by simplifying the knowledge engineering process and skill requirements.  For example, here’s a sentence translated into under-specified logic:

The underspecified quantifier here is a little sophisticated, but the machine can handle it (i.e., the variable ?x7 refers to the pair of angles, not the individual angles).

We’re hoping that a few hundred (or even thousands) of these sentences with the reasoning infrastructure (akin to Watson’s) will allow deeper tutors to be developed more easily by communities of educators.

Personalized e-Learning Styles

Although a bit of a stretch, this post was inspired by the following blog post, which talks about the Facebook API in terms of learning styles. If you’re interested in such things, you are probably also aware of learning record stores and things like the Tin Can API.  You need these things if you’re supporting e-learning across devices, for example…

Really, though, I was looking for information like the following nice rendering from Andrew Chua:

There’s a lot of hype in e-learning about what it means to “personalize” learning.  You hear people say that their engagements (or recommendations for same) take into account individuals’ learning styles.  Well…

Continue reading “Personalized e-Learning Styles”

Wiley PLUS and Quantum

I was recently pleased to come across this video showing that Quantum has done a nice job of knowledge engineering in the domain of accounting with Wiley.

Most of the success of cognitive tutors has been confined to mathematics, but Quantum has an interesting history of applying knowledge-based cognitive tutoring techniques to chemistry.  In this case, they’ve stepped a little away from abstract math into accounting.

It was a little surprising, but then not, to learn that the folks of Quantum are AI folks dating back to Carnegie Group.  They’re based here in Pittsburgh!

Nice work.  The question I find myself wondering is whether they’ve changed the cost curve for cognitive tutors….