A separation of concerns for engineering intelligent support for exploratory learning environments
Sergio Gutiérrez-Santos, Manolis Mavrikis, George D. Magoulas · UCL Discovery (University College London) · 2012
Exploratory learning environments (ELEs) can have a positive effect on learning as long as they have proper support. However, the difficulty of supporting exploration and unstructured interaction means that there are few systems with intelligent computer-based support. The paper presents a divide-and-conquer strategy to approach the difficult tasks of development and evaluation of intelligent support in ELEs. The strategy considers three parts, each one focusing on the three most important questions related to support at any given moment: (i) what is the situation now? (evidence), (ii) which aspect needs support? (reasoning), and (iii) how should the support be presented for maximum efficacy? (presentation). The benefits of this approach include easier testing and validation, more reliable progress, and better communication and management of the members of the interdisciplinary team required to design and evaluate the system. Copyright © 2012, Australian Computer Society Inc.