What is the Difference Between Intelligent Tutors and Adaptive Learning Systems?

Описание: In this video segment Dr. Nish Sonwalkar (Sc.D., MIT) explains the difference between intelligent tutors and the adaptive learning systems.

The intelligent tutors were created in early 1980, at the time when artificial intelligence was in fashion. The AI was based on rule based systems where certain rules were created based on the expert knowledge to provide feedback in real time. So the tutors normally were very domain specific.

For example math tutors where fed with a knowledge representation for the domain of math with expert rules that were fired when a learner was doing a mathematical task. Based on the answers of a given task subsequent scenario were presented. Each scenario steps led to certain rules that provided led to inference by the intelligent tutor to provide certain feedback or practice test.

By repeated task and feedback intelligent tutors were able to provide reasonable response to each mistake made by the used in their understanding of the mathematical concept. While tutors worked well for a specific domain that was deterministic in nature they failed in areas where there were no correct deterministic answers. Because, there were no if-then-else rules that you could fire in an area like interpretation of poetry.

The Adaptive Learning Systems on the other had represent knowledge in distinct cognitive pathways such as apprentice, incidental, inductive deductive and discovery -- providing same content in a different contextual framework thereby providing significant cognitive opportunity to learn. Also in the education adaptive learning systems the feedback is given in a different learning pathway to provide another perspective on the same problem.

Therefore, the an authentic adaptive learning systems is not domain specific and can provide better learning for both scientific disciplines with deterministic answers to domains where the answers are more based interpretation style and there no correct answer.