DISCUSSION CONTROL IN AN AUTOMATED SOCRATIC TUTOR
Eric A. Domeshek, Elias Holman, Susann LuperFoy, Stottler Henke · 2004
Socratic interaction is a mainstay of instruction in professions such as law, business, and education, and to a lesser extent, in the military. Socratic instruction comprises a set of techniques that help students acquire and practice professional-level reasoning and decision-making skills. Our observations of exemplary tactical instructors demonstrate these techniques in use with military commanders. Unfortunately, this is a difficult and expensive form of instruction. Accordingly, we are extending the general drive towards development of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) that automate military instructional expertise, seeking to understand and address the specific requirements of Socratic tutoring. Socratic tutoring is characterized by (a) the setting of a thought-provoking problem, (b) a student’s attempt(s) to provide solutions to the problem, (c) the instructor’s repeated exploration and challenging of the student’s solutions, which (d) elicits incremental justification, elaboration, refinement, and revision of both the student’s understanding of the situation under discussion and their proposed solution. The prototypical structure of Socratic tutoring sessions involves a series of tutor-generated questions and student-generated answers. Major issues, then, are how should an automated Socratic tutor control its participation in such a dialog, and how can the behavior of such a tutor be specified cost-effectively?