SPRITS: Secure pedagogical resources in intelligent tutoring systems

Abstract

During the training phase in an Intelligent Tutoring System, learners usually require help. However, it may happen that the tutor cannot provide such help, unless it has access to additional pedagogical resources. Moreover, in a collaborative but competitive learning environment in which each user could be both learner and expert, security problems may arise. For instance, the exchanges between users could require security services such as anonymity, confidentiality and integrity. In this paper, we introduce a system, called SPRITS, whose aim is to provide the tutor with mechanisms to capture, exploit, organize, deliver and evaluate learners knowledge, in a secure way, based on the learner-expert concept. Our main contribution is the introduction of security services in an ITS for the benefit of learners, This may be helpful to protect learners' privacy as well as communication contents and pedagogical resources in an artificial competitive peer environment, thus allowing the tutor to better evaluate learners. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.