Self-organizing teaching systems
Steven Kaneff · ANU Open Research (Australian National University) · 1967
P o ssib le high lev el teaching sy ste m s using self-o rg an izin g p rin c ip le s a re d iscu ssed .The E v o lu tio n ary ' c h a ra c te r of a self-o rg an izin g sy stem is used as a b a sis for a sim ple teaching sy ste m im plem ented on a digital com puter.D eficiencies in the sy ste m suggest fe a tu re s of a m o re com plex sy stem which is being developed with the aim of providing a pow erful re s e a rc h tool through which eventually high lev el sy ste m s m ay be developed.The g en eral approach of find ing c o n stra in ts and action cap a b ilities to produce a self-o rg an izin g sy stem which can enhance its own cap a b ilities through learn in g , is suggested.iii 1.(d) provide adequate challenge and stim ulation;(e) g en erally provide a pow erful m easu rem en t and co n tro l sy stem for te s t ing th e o rie s, approaches and s tra te g ie s in a re a lis tic environm ent, th ereb y providing inform ation enabling the m achine d e sig n e rs and educational re s e a rc h w o rk ers to enhance the s y ste m 's c a p a b ilitie s and p erfo rm an ce, ultim ately enabling specification of a p ra c tic a l teaching system to be m ade.The potential capability of a suitable m achine s tru c tu re to update its p e rf orm ance through the in te g ra te d r e s u lts of in teractin g with hundreds of individual students should not be u n d e re stim ate d , as the p ro c e ss of im provem ent can be achiev ed e x trem ely rapidly, unlike the co rrespond in g p ro c e ss in a human te ac h e r, whose experience m ust be developed over a long perio d , due to his lim ited inform ation p ro cessin g ra te .What is v ery c le a rly n e c e s sa ry at th is stage of m achine developm ent, how ever, is th at the p ro v isio n of new inform ation on topics to be taught, the e n ric h m ent of s tru c tu re and the p ro v isio n of new s tra te g ie s , ru le s and decision c rite ria , m ust come from the educational r e s e a r c h w o rk er and m achine d e sig n e r -the m achine, by its own actions, can be expected to im prove its p erfo rm an ce, both sh o rt and long te rm , only by selecting s tra te g ie s , ru le s and d ecisio n c r ite r ia (which a re p re sen t), th ereb y im proving and optim izing its p erfo rm an ce and adapting to each student, In th is sense, it m ight be said to 'le a r n ' to be a b e tte r te a c h e r, but (at the p re s e n t stage of knowledge) it cannot be expected to 'invent' new s tra te g ie s , ru le s and decision c r ite r ia , although, by acting w ithin its s tru c tu re and g en eral organization, it m ight well produce sequences of in te ra c tio n w ith a student which have not been anticipated by the m achine d esig n er.(Invention of new s tra te g ie s need not be ru le d out com pletely, how ever, because if given a p p ro p ria te cap a b ilities for re -s tru c tu rin g inform ation, anCopies of this and other Publications (see list inside) of the Department of Engineering Physics may be obtained from: I Price: $ A 1.