A model of tutoring: facilitating knowledge integration using multiple models of the domain
Ramzan A. Khuwaja · 1995
This thesis describes a model of tutoring. This model is intended for CIRCSIM-Tutor (v.3)--an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS)--that teaches the functioning of the baroreceptor reflex to the first year medical students. This model is based on the behavior of human tutors in the keyboard-to-keyboard sessions. The major theme of this model is that, in a problem-solving environment, it helps the student integrate his/her knowledge into a coherent qualitative causal model of the domain and solve problems in the domain. The key feature of this model is that it uses multiple qualitative models of the domain in the process of facilitating knowledge integration. The development of this model of tutoring has been approached by using an ITS development framework that views the development of an ITS as a modeling activity. There are three major phases of this methodology. These are the conceptual phase, the system phase, and physical phase. At each phase a different model of an ITS results. The conceptual model, resulting out of the conceptual phase, deals in this research only with the domain and the pedagogy aspects of tutoring. The domain knowledge here consists of multiple qualitative models that are used to support decision making. This decision making process considers three major functions: what to teach, when to teach, and how to teach. The system model, resulting out of the system phase, provides a generic framework to represent three different types of knowledge. These are the planning knowledge, the curriculum knowledge, and the domain knowledge. The system model can also be viewed as consisting of a set of tutoring spaces. Each space is responsible for performing one type of major decision of the tutor while interacting with the student. The second model resulting out of the system phase is the architecture of the system. Here an object-oriented methodology is used to develop some of the major components of this architecture. These architectural components are coded using the Common Lisp Object System on the Apple Macintosh.