Research Statement of Interest

2007

In the twenty years that I have taught mathematics, programming and Computer Science, I have seen students struggle in similar ways across these disciplines. I have also experienced great success in helping students overcome the blocks or misconceptions they have when learning mathematical/computational concepts when helping them in an individualized setting.  However, it is impractical for instructors to teach every student individually and much is also to be gained in a social educational setting.

I am interested in the development of Intelligent Tutoring Systems which adapt themselves to the student and the task at hand. ITS go beyond flat computer aided tutorials where every student has the same experience. Rather, the ITS mimics a human tutor and gives intelligent feedback and guided direction to the student.

Intelligent tutoring systems are expensive because of the modeling that needs to be incorporated into each system. Also, there is some hesitancy to use such systems on a large scale because of political reasons and fear of change in many educational settings. Yet there is much potential in offering this form of individualized instruction freeing up human instructors to work more efficiently and effectively.