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While intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), also called knowledge based tutors, are becoming more common and proving to be increasingly effective, each one must still be built from scratch at a significant cost. We have developed domain independent tools for authoring all aspects of a knowledge based tutor: the domain model, the teaching strategies, the student model, and the learning environment. In this paper we describe these tools, discuss a number of design issues and design tradeoffs that are involved in building ITS authoring tools, and discuss knowledge acquisition and representation issues encountered in our work. We also describe how we plan to use these tools (collectively called Eon), including "ontology objects," as a meta-authoring tool for designing special purpose authoring tools tailored for specific domain types.

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Intelligent Tutoring Systems authoring tools are highly complex educational software applications used to produce highly complex software applications (i.e. ITSs). How should our assumptions about the target users (authors) impact the design of authoring tools? In this article I first reflect on the factors leading to my original 1999 article on the state of the art in ITS authoring tools and consider some challenges facing authoring tool researchers today. Then, in the bulk of the paper, I propose some principled foundations for future authoring tool design, focusing on operationalizing the construct of complexity-for tool, task, and user. ITS authoring tools are major undertakings and to redeem this investment it is important to anticipate actual user needs and capacities. I propose that one way to do this is to match the complexity of tool design to the complexity of authoring tasks and the complexity capacity of users and user communities. Doing so entails estimating the complexity of the mental models that a user is expected to build in order to use a tool as intended. The goal is not so much to support the design of more powerful authoring tools as it is to design tools that meet the needs of realistic user audiences. This paper presents some exploratory ideas on how to operationalize the concept of complexity for tool, task, and user. The paper draws from the following theories and frameworks to weave this narrative: Complexity Science, Activity Theory, Epistemic Forms and Games, and adult cognitive developmental theory (Hierarchical Complexity Theory). This exploration of usability and complexity is applicable to the design of any type of complex authoring application, though the application area that motivated the exploration is ITS authoring.

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Abstract. We describe Wayang Outpost, a web-based ITS for the Math section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). It has several distinctive features: help with multimedia animations and sound, problems embedded in narrative and fantasy contexts, alternative teaching strategies for students of different mental rotation abilities and memory retrieval speeds. Our work on adding intelligence for adaptivity is described. Evaluations prove that students learn with the tutor, but learning depends on the interaction of teaching strategies and cognitive abilities. A new adaptive tutor is being built based on evaluation results; surveys results and students' log files analyses.

Abstract. We describe a portable coaching environment used within a domain-independent inquiry-learning infrastructure. This coach reasons about a student's knowledge and offers pertinent, domain-specific feedback. It promotes good inquiry behavior by critiquing the student's hypotheses and supporting data and relationships among propositions. Four inquiry tutors in separate disciplines have been developed that use embedded expert knowledge bases and reusable domain-independent rules. We describe the functionality of the coach within an art history domain, discuss the implementation of the coach, and elaborate on the options given to domain authors for customization.