Student-System Interactions

Abstract

Despite the explicit pairing of papers both at the Calgary Institute and in this volume, the paper by Stephano Cerri is best regarded as being in the same general area as that by Laurillard. Cerri describes a methodology (and software system that embodies that methodology) for the gradual elaboration of a generative student model in some domain. By contrast with Laurillard who proposes a carefully controlled, cyclic, empirical process to be completed prior to the design of the resultant tutor/diagnoser, Cerri’s methodology involves a cyclic refinement process involving an expert, the evolving tutorial/diagnostic system and students, all linked through the design tool. For Cerri, there is rather less obvious distinction between knowledge acquisition and system implementation in that the two processes are intertwined. Cerri also subscribes to the standard view of student modelling within the intelligent tutoring systems community and certainly does not make the kind of distinction between classifying a student’s conceptions and modelling the student which is of concern to Laurillard.