MIS-Tutor: An ITS in Support of IS Mastery Learning

Abstract

Increasingly, intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) are expected to enhance learning and teaching processes. This expectation is based on the notion that, by supporting interactive instruction, ITS will encourage students to assume more responsibility for their own learning. ITS, it is argued, can help students learn the elementary and fundamental concepts on which courses are based, thereby freeing faculty to address the more complex and esoteric aspects of course content. Furthermore, ITS aids the assessment of learning more effectively and efficiently than traditional means and also improves feedback of the assessment into educational design. A basic MIS course covers a wide range of fundamental topics. Generally, one objective of the course is to ensure that students learn basic concepts, facts, and methodologies (i.e., students achieve mastery learning). The second objective is to enable students to discover the myriad of complexities that impact on the application of information technology in an organization. We have developed an ITS called MIS-Tutor (MIST) in support of student mastery learning. This enables more class-time to be devoted to the second objective of the course (i.e., student discovery). We have assessed the effectiveness of MIST in support of IS mastery learning over a span of four years with 1,328 students registered in a third-year B.Com.MIS course. Student performance increased from an average of 70% without MIST support (i.e., human tutor only) to an average of 90% when they were supported by MIST and human tutors.