No skill left behind: Intelligent Tutoring Systems enable a new paradigm in learning

Abstract

In this paper, the design and merits of an automated online Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) are presented. The ITS contains an ontology of the topics of the course topics (the course model) that guides its remedial actions when it encounters a student assessment failure. Furthermore, the ITS keeps track of the student's declarative and intuitive proficiency scores in every course topic (the student model). The ITS uses formative assessments to gauge the student's performance and navigates the course non-linearly by finding and correcting the root cause of any assessment failure. The ITS thus ensures that the student attains the required level of proficiency in every course topic by continuously assessing and remediating these topics during course delivery. The ITS also flags terminal failures that it is unable to remediate. The proposed ITS has great potential for improving student achievement and for reducing the cost and time of learning.