Adaptive Learning
Environments UG4/MSc 2011-2012
Assessed assignment 1
You should spend about 12 hours on each assignment (maximum 16
hours). Coursework accounts for 30% of the credit available, the
examination is worth 70%. Two coursework assignments are set for 4th
year students and 3 for MSc students.
The
deadline
for
submission
is: now Monday
27th February 2012 (week 6) 4pm
Submit the assignment either by hand to the ITO office, or
using the submit program (the latter
is strongly preferred).
submit ale1 1 filename-of-your-submission
where 1 is the assignment number. In the latter case
your submission should be a
.pdf file.
The first assignment has two parts:
A. The evaluation and comparison of two existing
systems to be chosen from the list below.
B. The consideration of their suitability as models
for a new problem.
Part A: evaluation and comparison of existing systems
You have been given the remit of preparing a report on two systems,
selected from list of 6 given below. They should be compared with each
other in relation to all aspects (see the questions below).
Your task is to present a comparison of the features of each system,
and to comment on the limitations of each.
A number of references are provided for each that are available
on-line. (See the course reading page:
course
reading page.) Most of them are web versions of published papers,
so please
cite the published form (NOT the web page) when citing. If you do cite
a web page (e.g. a project page rather than a publication), please
state when it was accessed in the list of references. Look at various
research papers to see how this is done. Citations in the text of the
form (authors, year) are strongly preferred (rather than just numbers),
see APA or NATBIB styles, or any Psychology or Cognitive Science
journal.
For further references, start by searching on the author names, or by
looking in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in
Education (the main library subscribes to the on-line version), or in
various conference proceedings (e.g. AIED and ITS conferences). You
should find a number of these in the library and online. Then look at
the papers that give more detail about each system.
In relation to the following questions,
THE TWO SYSTEMS SHOULD BE
COMPARED.
1.
What are the goals of the learning environment
or approach? What is it intended to teach? What is the context in which
the teaching is intended to take place?
2.
Who are the intended learners? Does the environment
adapt to or customise its teaching for the learners in any way
(explicitly or implicitly)? Is it targetted to a group of users or
individuals (or neither)?
4.
What approach does each take to teaching?
Is the success of each environment in
teaching evaluated - if so, what conclusions are drawn?
5.
How does the system interact with the user?
Describe an example interaction.
In all cases refer
to methods or techniques used, and cite the relevant literature.
Sources
References for the assignment are given on the
course
reading
page. A few references are
given in each case, though you may find others that are more helpful.
The systems to choose from are:
1. Crystal Island - outbreak
2. tactical language and culture training systems
3. GEOMETRY EXPLANATION TUTOR
4. The ANDES tutor
5. animalwatch
6. Teachable agents
PART B: suitability as models for a new problem
You are now asked to make a recommendation for one of these two systems
as a basis on which to model an Adaptive Learning Environment for
the
task of designing a tutor
or learning environment for training first aiders. The goal of
a first
aider is:
"to give assistance or treatment to a
casualty for any injury or sudden illness
before the arrival of an
ambulance, doctor or otherqualified person.''
(First Aid Manual,
St.
John Ambulance, St. Andrew's Ambulance
Association and British Red Cross,
1992)
Consider
both of the environments reviewed as the basis for design for this
task. The focus of the system may be on any aspect of the task (i.e. it
does not have to try and do everything!).
1. For the task chosen,
specify
the task requirements: that
is give a clear statement of what the task entails, the scope
of the task, the criteria for completing it, and the analysis of the
task (steps involved),
and how the resulting ALE designed would be customised to and adapt to
the task.
2.
Specify who the learners would be
for this task, and the ways in
which the ALE would adapt to them.
3.
Sketch an initial design
for the proposed ALE,
using one of
the
systems reviewed as the basis for the design.
Give examples of how the
ALE might interact with learner, and ways in which it could adapt.
4.
Comment on the suitability of the
system selected as the basis for
the proposed ALE. In what ways would it be well suited? In what ways
would it be more difficult to adapt? What changes would need to be
made? How feasible would these be?
5.
Comment briefly on why the other
system considered was less suitable
than the one chosen.
You should not spend more than about 16 hours on this assignment.
Your report should be 4-6 pages (c. 2-3,000 words) long
