Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 11 - Professional Career Education
About this ebook
Each book in the Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems series has been associated with an Expert Workshop on the same topic. These workshops are part of a cooperative agreement (W911NF18-2-0039) between US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Soldier Center and University of Memphis. One of the goals of the expert workshops is to learn more about ITS capabilities that are being developed, and how these approaches, as well as lessons learned, could enhance the GIFT software (GIFT is freely available at https://www.GIFTtutoring.org). Invited experts in industry, academia, and government discuss the expert workshop topic, their applicable work, and suggestions for improving GIFT in what is usually a two day event. Both the University of Memphis and GIFT Teams participate in the workshop, help to guide discussion, and ask questions that will provide insight into current challenges in GIFT.
The expert workshop associated with this current book was held virtually in October 2022, and included presentations about both general approaches and specific applications to professional education in ITSs. Additionally, the University of Memphis team that participated in the workshop included Arthur C. Graesser, Xiangen Hu, Vasile Rus, and Jody Cockroft. The US Army DEVCOM Soldier Center team who participated in the workshop included Benjamin Goldberg, Gregory Goodwin, Anne M. Sinatra, Randall Spain, and Lisa N. Townsend.
The current volume and the expert workshop that was associated with it, branched out in a new direction and rather than addressing specific components of an ITS or types of features/approaches that could be included in ITSs, it focused on how to apply an ITS for specific types of training. The specific focus was on ITSs for Professional Career Education. This topic area was selected, as in general, ITS research tends to be focused on K-12 or college education, and in many cases on domains such as algebra or physics. However, for the military, and for industry, trainees are adult learners and domains tend to be more active, applied, and experiential. This workshop provided an opportunity for discussion of specific examples of applied training that occurs with ITSs, as well as discussion of general approaches and considerations for applied professional education in ITSs.
About the author
Dr. Anne M. Sinatra is a Research Psychologist at the US Army DEVCOM Soldier Center, Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC) in Orlando, FL. Her research focuses on applying cognitive psychology and human factors principles to computer-based education and adaptive training to enhance learning. She is a member of the research team for the award winning Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT) software. She is currently the lead editor of the Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems book series. Dr. Sinatra holds a Ph.D. in Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology from the University of Central Florida.
Dr. Arthur C. Graesser is an Emeritus professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute of Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis, as well as an Honorary Research Fellow at University of Oxford. His research interests question asking and answering, tutoring, text comprehension, inference generation, conversation, reading, problem solving, memory, emotions, artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, and human-computer interaction. He served as editor of the journal Discourse Processes and Journal of Educational Psychology, as well as presidents of four societies, including Society for Text and Discourse, the International Society for Artificial Intelligence in Education, and the Federation of Associations in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. He and his colleagues have developed and tested software in learning, language, and discourse technologies, including those that hold a conversation in natural language and interact with multimedia (such as AutoTutor) and those that analyze text on multiple levels of language and discourse (Coh-Metrix and Question Understanding Aid -- QUAID). He has served on four panels with the National Academy of Sciences and four OECD expert panels on problem solving, namely PIAAC 2011 Problem Solving in Technology Rich Environments, PISA 2012 Complex Problem Solving, PISA 2015 Collaborative Problem Solving (chair), and PIAAC Complex Problem Solving 2021.
Dr. Xiangen Hu is a professor in the Department of Psychology, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science Department at The University of Memphis (UofM) and senior researcher at the Institute for Intelligent Systems (IIS) at the UofM and is professor and Dean of the School of Psychology at Central China Normal University (CCNU). Dr. Hu received his MS in applied mathematics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, MA in social sciences and Ph.D. in Cognitive Sciences from the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Hu is the Director of Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Partnership Laboratory at the UofM, and is a senior researcher in the Chinese Ministry of Education’s Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior. Dr. Hu's primary research areas include Mathematical Psychology, Research Design and Statistics, and Cognitive Psychology. More specific research interests include General Processing Tree (GPT) models, categorical data analysis, knowledge representation, computerized tutoring, and advanced distributed learning.
Lisa N. Townsend is a Psychologist who just began working at STTC (SED/DEVCOM SC) in Orlando, FL. Prior to STTC, she spent 27 years as a Research Psychologist at the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) in Orlando, FL. She has a Master of Science in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, both from the University of Central Florida (UCF). She has worked on many diverse teams including those within Research and Development, Technology Transfer, Instructional Systems Design, and Human Systems Integration. Ms. Townsend’s areas of expertise involve team training related research, Front End Analyses (FEAs), Training Systems Analyses (TSAs), Instructional Systems Design (ISD), Training Effectiveness Evaluations (TEEs), and the development of training and organization related metrics. Her efforts in these areas have spanned across Services and platforms.
Dr. Vasile Rus is the Jack and Jane Morris Professor of Computer Science and Intelligent Systems at The University of Memphis. He also serves as the Director of the Data Science Center and Program. Dr. Rus’ research interests are at the intersection of human, animal, and machine learning; specifically, he is exploring how to use Artificial Intelligence and the data revolution to further our understanding of how people learn, how to improve adaptive instructional systems (AISs), and how to make emerging learning ecologies that include online and blended learning with AISs more effective, efficient, engaging, equitable, relevant, and affordable. Dr. Rus’ research has been extensively funded by many federal funding agencies. Currently, he serves as PI on 4 projects funded by NSF and Department of Education and as co-PI on 2 projects, one funded by NSF and one by Department of Defense, for a total amount of funding of more than $11 million. Other accomplishments include 150+ peer-reviewed publications (conference papers, journal articles, book chapters), 3 best paper awards (5 best paper award nominations, all with his student advisees), winner of several research competitions (e.g., on automated Question Answering), and supervising and graduating 10 PhD students and 37 Masters students.
