The design of a rule-based CAI tutorial

Abstract

Rule-based systems are a development associated with recent research in artificial intelligence (AI). These systems express their decision-making criteria as sets of production rules, which are declarative statements relating various system states to program actions. For computer-assisted instruction (CAI) programs, system states are defined in terms of a task analysis and student model, and actions take the form of the different teaching operations that the program can perform. These components are related by a set of means-ends guidance rules that determine what the program will do next for any given state. The paper presents the design of a CAI course employing a rule-based tutorial strategy. This design has not undergone the test of full implementation; the paper presents a conceptual design rather than a programming blueprint. One of the unique features of the course design described here is that it deals with the domain of computer graphics. The precise subject of the course is ReGIS, the Remote Graphics Instruction Set on Digital Equipment Corporation GIGI and VT125 terminals. The paper describes the course components and their inter-relationships, discusses how program control might be expressed in the form of production rules, and presents a program that demonstrates one facet of the intended course: the ability to parse student input in such a way that rules can be used to update a dynamic student model.