Adaptive learning has become a dominant theme in settings ranging from academic laboratories to commercial education. Despite tens of millions of dollars invested by governments, universities, the private sector and companies, however, progress has been both costly and limited. No established initiative has attempted to model the processes human…

This paper summarizes key stages in development of the Structural Learning Theory (SLT) and explains how and why it is now possible to model human tutors in a highly efficient manner. The paper focuses on evolution of the SLT, a deterministic theory of teaching and learning, on which AuthorIT authoring and TutorIT delivery systems have been built.…

AuthorIT and TutorIT represent a fundamentally different approach to building and delivering adaptive learning systems. Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) guide students as they solve problems. BIG DATA systems make pedagogical decisions based on average student performance. Decision making in AuthorIT and TutorIT is designed to model the human…

This article summarizes the current status of AuthorIT authoring and TutorIT delivery platforms available at www.TutorITweb. It is based on two recent publications, and includes a short history of developments along with references and relationships to the goals established for the GIFT framework established by the Army Learning Model (ALM). Also…

Computer technology has been used for over 50 years to tailor learning experiences to the needs and interests of individual learners at all levels of instruction. It provides adaptation and individualization that is difficult, if not impossible to apply in a classroom of 20-30 students. This article provides a brief background and discussion about…

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) have a long history, almost as long as the Structural Learning Theory (initially in Scandura, 1971). Although well-funded for many years, neither ITS nor contemporary successors based on BIG DATA (e.g., Knewton) come close to modeling the processes used by good human tutors. AuthorIT & TutorIT rest on a…

Although providing open learner models to teachers and learners has proven effective, building accurate learner models remains a very complex task, partly due to the large amount of data that must be analyzed. We propose a method for specifying an open learner model at the conceptual level. This model re-uses constraints or indicators already…

This article is intended as a companion document to the more focused report provided by the author at the 2017 American Education Research Association (AERA) Conference as part of the Technology, Instruction, Cognition & Learning Special Interest Group's Symposium on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). Both the AERA talk and this article…

Based on our empirical studies of effective human tutoring, we developed an Intelligent Tutoring System, iList, that helps students learn linked lists, a challenging topic in Computer Science education. The iList system can provide several forms of feedback to students. Feedback is automatically generated thanks to a Procedural Knowledge Model…

The Writing Pal is an intelligent tutoring system designed to support writing proficiency and strategy acquisition for adolescent writers. A fundamental aspect of the instructional model is automated formative feedback that provides concrete information and strategies oriented toward student improvement. In this paper, the authors explore…

This article begins with a summary of two dominant approaches to adaptive learning systems: Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS), which have been around since the late 1970s and relatively new learning systems based on Learning Analytics, deriving largely from technical advances in BIG DATA pioneered by Google. The article then describes a third…

This article exposes surprisingly close historical parallels in the development of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) based on biologically inspired ACT-R theories and dynamically adaptive tutoring systems based on operationally defined cognitive constructs that serve as a foundation for the Structural Leaning theory (SLT). The article begins with…

Enthymemes are a manner of presenting a deductive argument. A deductive argument consists of three elements: A major premise (e.g., All men are mortal.), a minor premise (e.g., Aristotle is a man.), and a conclusion (i.e., Therefore, Aristotle is mortal.). An enthymeme is a truncated deductive argument; one of the members is left unstated. From a…

This paper describes educational systems built by members of the Human-Centred Technology Research Group at the University of Sussex that address different aspects of motivation. These systems have been described elsewhere, so this paper is essentially a drawing together of existing work. In particular, we have recently set out a view of…

This study examined the effectiveness of a dynamically adaptive TutorIT tutorial for graduate students' learning of basic statistical skills and their attitudes toward this tutorial. Fifteen in-service teachers interacted with the tutorial. As hypothesized, all who completed the tutorial demonstrated mastery. However, the class differed…