Intelligent Tutoring Systems for Asynchronous Distance Education

Marko Rosi, Slavomir Stankov, and Vlado Glavini, Member, IEEE

student the time to reflect, formulate ideas and compose responses thoughtfully, hence enabling the elevation of the quality of student interaction and participation. Among various possibilities for implementing asynchronous distance education delivery computer supported ones are nowadays the most popular. A category thereof are intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) that are used for supporting and improving the process of learning and teaching in arbitrary domain knowledge. In such education models the role of human teacher is replaced with a computer tutor, basically consisting of a domain knowledge base as well as of both a student module with an appropriate student model and a teacher strategy guiding the learning and teaching process [1]. An ITS takes into consideration the knowledge about what to teach (subject matter domain knowledge), the way to teach (pedagogical strategy teacher), as well as the relevant information about the student being taught (student). As shown in Figure 1, there are four main interconnected modules of an intelligent tutoring system: (i) domain knowledge module with the domain knowledge base, (ii) teacher module for guiding the teaching and learning process, (iii) student module with information that is specific to each individual student, and a (iv) suitable user interface module enabling interaction among student, teacher and domain knowledge [1,2].
User interface module

Abstract Asynchronous distance education delivery systems do not require real-time student-human teacher interaction thus enabling students to use tutoring resources anytime and anywhere. Among various possibilities for implementing asynchronous distance education delivery computer supported ones are nowadays the most popular. Categories thereof are intelligent tutoring systems that are used for supporting and improving the process of learning and teaching in arbitrary domain knowledge. In such education models the role of human teacher is replaced with a computer tutor basically consisting of a domain knowledge base as well as of both a student module with an appropriate student model and a teacher strategy guiding the learning and teaching process. The paper describes an authoring shell Distributed TutorExpert System (DTEx-Sys) developed for asynchronous distance education purposes, as a secondary knowledge source for teachers and their students in secondary and primary schools. Index Terms asynchronous distance education, authoring shells, intelligent tutoring systems.

I. INTRODUCTION The growing popularity and ease of access to the World Wide Web (WWW) stimulates present day interest in systems for self-learning in general and distance learning (DL) in particular. The Web provides itself as an outstanding delivery medium, thus acting as both a provider of content and of subject matter. On the other hand HTML technology allows and easy way to deliver all kinds of text, graphics, sound and video offer. It is claimed that the Web represents a well-chosen technology for implementing asynchronous distant education delivery systems. Such systems do not require real-time student/human teacher interaction hence enabling students to use tutoring resources anytime and anywhere. Moreover, students within asynchronous group learning environments do not need to manage their schedules. Learning networks based on asynchronous communication offer unique opportunities for active participation. Unlike the traditional classroom, students within on-line courses have access to the airtime they want or need, enabling every one of them to have a voice. Asynchronicity provides each
Marko Rosi and Slavomir Stankov are with the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Education, University of Split, HR-21000 Split, Croatia (e-mail: marko.rosic{stankov}@pmfst.hr). Vlado Glavini is with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia (e-mail: vlado.glavinic@fer.hr).

Student module

Teacher module

Domain knowledge module

Figure 1. Typical ITS Architecture Teaching and learning are expressed by a four-phase functional cycle: (1) didactics, (2) perception, (3) diagnostic and evaluation and (4) help and remediation [3]. This process is a self-adaptable one and is performed according to the assumed pre-knowledge, capabilities and students' behavior.

The biggest problem in building an ITS is its high costs resulting from the inherently cyclic and time consuming design process. In order to overcome this problem another approach has been chosen, namely to create particular ITSs from flexible shells acting as program generators. Such authoring shells should show design usability and flexibility so as (i) to allow different representations of problem areas, and (ii) to enforce ease-of-use when developing an ITS for a particular problem area [4]. The asynchronous nature of ITSs makes them a good candidate for use throughout the Web, since they facilitate instruction offer anywhere and to anyone and for an arbitrary domain. In this paper we present a Web-oriented authoring shell Distributed Tutor-Expert System (DTEx-Sys), which is developed for asynchronous distance education purposes. DTEx-Sys is designed as a 3-tier client-server architecture [5] where the intelligent tutoring functions are separated from the user interface and the knowledge base(s). The system functionality comprehends knowledge base access for arbitrary domain knowledge, along with testing, diagnosing and evaluation of students work. TEx-Sys features Web-based tutoring by means of standard browsers and an interactive hypermedia learning environment, and enables a particularly easy two-way communication between students and teachers, as well as students and students. II. WEB ORIENTED INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEMS The Web has demonstrated itself as one of the most popular education supporting technologies on the Internet. Thousands of Web-based courses have been made available within the last five years already, unfortunately most of them using static hypertext pages [6]. In contrast, there are presently only few technologies for implementing ITSs on the Web. Frequently used technologies are those enabling dynamic generation of Web document contents, here including the following ones: Common Gateway Interface (CGI), Active Server Pages (ASP) and Java Server Pages (JSP). ASP and JSP are better solutions than CGI, because they are faster and support interoperability with components (Component Object Model or JavaBeans components). Another group of technologies for developing distributed ITSs are those based on distributed objects such as Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) and Java Remote Method Invocation (Java RMI). Additionally, for operating the clients side, Java applets and Active X components are also used. A. Web-Based Authoring Shells A number of Web-based authoring shells six of them are considered in the following, with the purpose of illustrating design decisions and implementation technologies.

ELM-ART (ELM Adaptive Remote Tutor) is a Web based ITS to support the learning process of LISP programming. It is based on the on-site ELM-PE (ELM-Programming Environment) intelligent learning environment used to teach an introductory LISP course at the University of Trier [7]. The course materials in ELM-ART are presented as an on-line intelligent textbook with a hypermedia integrated problem solving environment. The system is implemented using Common Lisp Hypermedia Server functions. CALAT (Computer Aided Learning and Authoring environment for Tele-education) consists of an ITS shell on the Web server side and of a multimedia scene viewer on the client side. This system is built with the aim of achieving a high degree of adaptation to individual learners by dynamically selecting the subject matter. Besides, it includes a courseware authoring system that can be readily used by courseware specialists even without system or programming skills [8,9]. CALAT uses CGI in combination with appropriate plug-ins. Lee and Wang [10] proposed an intelligent hypermedia learning system that can perform intelligent as well as individual instruction based on the combination of CORBA and the Web. It provides instructional units for diagnosing students response and allows dynamic instruction strategies developed according to a students progress. Another system with a Web oriented intelligent learning environment is VALIENT (Virtual Adaptive Learning Integrated Environments using Net-based Technologies) [11]. Its authors aim to combine the strengths of the Web as a mechanism for delivering conventional instructional material with the learning opportunities available in intelligent learning environments. VALIENT uses JSP technologies and Java applets. The IDLE system (Intelligent Distance Learning Environment) supports the development of adaptive Web courseware in the areas of artificial intelligence (especially knowledge engineering) and cognitive sciences (psycholinguistics and neuro-psychology). The implemented prototype is a multi-agent portable system enforcing access restriction and using multimedia effects [12]. There are both a UNIX and a PC version, the UNIX one using CGI, while the PC one using JSP technology. The MANIC (Multimedia Asynchronous Networked Individualized Courseware) [13] project is targeted towards facilitating individualized asynchronous distance learning based on new technologies like high-speed computer networks and hypermedia instructional material (text, graphics, animations) presentation. Its authors concentrate the research especially on the effective use of Web hypermedia technology for delivering to students stored instructional courses, such as class notes/overheads and audio/video of classroom lectures. MANIC is implemented with CGI, using Real Audio and Real Video Server.

III. DISTRIBUTED TUTOR-EXPERT SYSTEM (DTEX-SYS) Our DTEx-Sys is built by keeping in mind universality and application quality thus resulting in generality of use. A brief consideration of DTEx-Sys universality features shows (i) the support for availability to a wide group of users and (ii) the possibility of its use for arbitrary domain knowledge. A coarse-grained decomposition of DTEx-Sys universality results in the following elements: user time independence when accessing system services, user location independence when using system services, independence of client computer system platform, limited requirements upon client computer system, and uniform way of storing knowledge regardless of the subject matter in question.
User interface DTEx-Sys functions Knowledge bases

Figure 2. DTEx-Sys 3-tier architecture DTEx-Sys is developed as 3-tier client-server architecture [5] where the intelligent tutoring functions are separated from the user interface and the knowledge base as shown in Figure 2. Semantic networks with frames are the formalism for knowledge representation in DTEx-Sys. Nodes represent domain knowledge objects, while links show relations between objects. Additionally nodes from the knowledge base can have any of the following structural attributes: textual descriptions with hypertext, pictures, (sequence of) slides, animations (moving pictures and sound) and Internet links.
Knowledge bases access module DTEx-Sys

Regarding application quality the following elements are considered: the system is adaptable to individual users needs, learning is performed within a hypermedia environment, the system supports a teacher consultation option, it offers a user supervision option, it a incorporates a user test feature, it provides tested users with recommendations for future work, the system is compatible with resources pertaining to other distance learning systems, and it is suitable for future refinement.

Student

Testing module

Knowledge bases

Consultation module

Teacher

Figure 3. Structure of DTEx-Sys shell DTEx-Sys users are supported in the process of learning and teaching with the following services: knowledge base(s) access, testing knowledge, reception of test results with recommendation for future work and consultation with instructors. These services are of course provided by their respective system modules, as shown in Figure 3: (i) knowledge access module, (ii) testing module and (iii) consultation module. All the modules exhibit appropriate user interfaces. E.g. the user interface for accessing the knowledge bases shows domain knowledge objects along

The system has been designed according to the general principles of student knowledge and skills acquisition, as well as of the methods and techniques of knowledge representation. Of course, DTEx-Sys builds upon the experiences of an earlier on-site version denoted TEx-Sys (Tutor-Expert System) [2], whose main objective has been the generation of hypermedia-rich learning environments for teaching and learning basic principles in control theory and their application in natural, technical and social systems. All of DTEx-Sys functions are accessible through standard Web browsers. Advantages of such an approach include the following ones: the Web is a generally accepted service for envisaged users of DTEx-Sys, Web browsers are free of charge software products, Web browsers enable client platform independence, Web browsers allow for an interactive hypermedia learning environment, the two-way student-teacher as well as student-student communication can be made extremely easy using Internet resources, and there are many other educational resources located on the Internet which can additionally be used by DTExSys.

Figure 4. Access to knowledge base

with structure attributes assigned to the selected object, see Figure 4. Testing is implemented using Web quizzes: after testing the student receives as feedback both the rating and recommendations for future work, see Figure 5. All of these activities are under control of the DTEx-Sys shell.

County, and 177010 Independence of Student Using New Information Technology funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia. REFERENCES
[1] H. L. Burns and C. G. Capps: Foundations of Intelligent Tutoring Systems: An Introduction, in M. C. Polson, J. J. Richardson, Eds.: Foundations of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 1988, pp. 1-18. S. Stankov: Isomorphic Model of the System as the Basis of Teaching Control Principles in the Intelligent Tutoring System, PhD Diss., Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Split, Split, Croatia 1997 (in Croatian). M. C. Angelides, I. Garcia: Towards an Intelligent Knowledge Based Tutoring System for Foreign Language Learning, CIT Journal of Computing and Information Technology, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1993, pp. 15-28. M. Barton. Authoring Shells for Intelligent Tutoring Systems, 7th World Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, Washington, DC, USA, August 16-19, 1995, http://www.pitt.edu/~al/aied/barton.html J. Edwards: 3-Tier Client/Server At Work, Rev. Ed., John Wiley &Sons, Inc., NewYork, 1999 P. Brusilovsky: Adaptive Educational Systems on the World-WideWeb: A review of Available Technologies, ITS98 The Workshop: Intelligent Tutoring Systems on the World Wide Web, San Antonio, TX, USA, August 16-19, 1998. http://www.aml.cs. umass.edu/~stern/webits/itsworkshop/brusilovsk y.html P. Brusilovsky, E. Schwartz, and G. Weber: ELM-ART: An Intelligent Tutoring System on World Wide Web, ITS96 The Workshop: Architecture and Methods for Designing Cost-Effective and Reusable ITS, Montreal, June 10-14, 1996. http://www. contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~plb/ITS96.html M. Kiyama, S. Ishiuchi, K. Ikeda, M. Tsujimoto, Y. Fukuhara: A Visual Authoring Tool for the Web-Based Intelligent CAI and its Evaluation, Proc. ED-MEDIA 98 World Conference on Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, Freiburg, Germany, June 20-25, 1998, pp. 778-783. K. Nakabayashi, Y. Koike, M. Maruyama, H. Touhei, S. Ishiuchi, Y. Fukuhara: An Intelligent Tutoring System on World-Wide Web: Towards an Integrated Learning Environment on a Distributed Hypermedia, in H. Maurer, Ed.: Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, Proc. ED-MEDIA 95. World Conference on Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, Graz, Austria, June 17-21, 1995, pp. 488-493. S. H. Lee and C. J. Wang: Intelligent Hypermedia Learning System on the Distributed Environment, Proc. ED-MEDIA 97 World Conference on Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 14-19, 1997, pp. 780-785. L. Hall, A. Gordon: Synergy on the Net: Integrating the Web and Intelligent Learning Environments, ITS98 The Workshop: Intelligent Tutoring Systems on the World Wide Web, San Antonio, TX, August 16-19, 1998. http://wwwaml.cs.umass.edu/~stern/webits/itswo rkshop/gordonhall.html T. Gavrilova, T. Chernigovskaya, A. Voinov, S. Udaltsov: Intelligent Development Tool for Adaptive Courseware on WWW, 1999. http://www.csa.ru/Inst/gorb_dep/artific/IA/cal isce98.htm M. K. Stern: The Difficulties in Web-Based Tutoring, and Some Possible Solutions, 8th World Conference of the AIED Society, Kobe, Japan, 18-22 August 1997. http://www.contrib.andrew.cmuedu/~plb/AIED97_w oekshop/Stern.html

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Figure 5. Results of test and recommendations for future work (rating 4 roughly equivalent to B) DTEx-Sys is implemented with Microsoft technology, therefore including the Windows DNA (Distributed interNet Applications Architecture) model. The contents of Web documents that are distributed to clients is generated dynamically. IV. CONCLUSION In this paper we discuss authoring shells presently being a very promising CAI tool class for insuring Web-based asynchronous distant education. After shortly reviewing six such systems known from the literature, we describe the basic architecture and outline the implementation of the authoring shell Distributed Tutor-Expert System (DTExSys). DTEx-Sys has been in use at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Education, University of Split, for some time already. E.g. it has been used for supporting both the course "Computer Aided Instruction" during the past academic year for several study groups, and the realization of a number of diploma works for various domain knowledges. Beside that, in our teaching practice we use DTEx-Sys for improving the learning and teaching process in regular and further education, where it serves as a secondary knowledge source for teachers and their students in secondary and primary schools. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work has been carried out within projects 036033 Architectural Elements for Regional Information Infrastructures jointly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia and the Istrian

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]