The curriculum and diagnosis module
The function of the curriculum
and instruction or tutoring module is three fold. Firstly
it must control the presentation, ordering and selection of
material most appropriate for the student. Secondly it must be
able to answer questions from the student and thirdly it must
determine which type of help should be given to students.
Any global tutoring strategy
should be based on sound educational and psychological principals
with reference to needs identified within the student model.
These needs are identified by the student diagnosis process and
can result in guidance or remedial instruction being feedback to
the student.
Beyond the presentation of
material inline with the overall tutoring strategy the system may
provide feedback to the student in a number of forms:
- A facility may exist to
allow the student to request help when stuck with a
problem. In this situation the system should provide
suitable and relevant hints.
- Assistance may be provided
in the problem solving process allowing the student to
concentrate on specific issues while gaining an
appreciation of other relevant issues.
- The student may be given the
facility to review their own decision making processes
during or after a problem solving episode. If this
facility is given during problem solving a back tracking
facility should allow the errors to be corrected.
- The tutoring system may
provide reactive feedback by challenging a student’s
decisions and forcing a justification for a decision.
- The system may provide model
answers so that the student can see the expert at work.
- The tutoring module may
provide over the shoulder coaching by monitoring porgies
and providing relevant advice. This could take the form
of remedial advice, further information, encouragement
for a correct solution or a warning that the
student’s current solution strategy is not optimal.
Table
of Contents
References
Authored by
Serengul Smith
E-mail to:
serengul1@mdx.ac.uk
School of Computing Science Middlesex University
Revised: September 1998