On using learning automata to model a student's behavior in a tutorial-like system

Abstract

This paper presents a new philosophy to model the behavior of a Student in a Tutorial-like system using Learning Automata (LA). The model of the Student in our system is inferred using a higher-level of LA, referred to Meta-LA, which attempt to characterize the learning model of the Students (or Student Simulators), while the latter use the Tutorial-like system. To our knowledge, this is the first published result which attempts to infer the learning model of an LA when it is treated externally as a black box, whose outputs are the only observable quantities. Additionally, our paper represents a new class of Multi-Automata systems, where the Meta-LA communicate with the Students, also modelled using LA, in a synchronous scheme of interconnecting automata. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.