DNA - Uncorking the bottleneck in knowledge elicitation and organization

Abstract

There are two main purposes of this paper. First, we describe a novel cognitive tool that was designed to aid in knowledge elicitation and organization for instructional purposes – specifically to be used for intelligent tutoring system development. This automated approach to knowledge elicitation is embodied in a program called DNA (Decompose, Network, Assess). Our aim for this tool is to increase the efficiency of developing the expert model – often referred to as the bottleneck in developing intelligent instructional systems. The second purpose is to present a first-order summative evaluation of the tool's efficacy. Specifically, we used DNA with three statistical experts to explicate their knowledge structures related to measures of central tendency. In short, we found that DNA can be used as a standalone program to effectively elicit relevant information on which to build instruction. This was achieved in hours compared to months for conventional elicitation procedures.