Brett Bixler (bxb11@psu.edu)
Wed, 29 Jul 1998 08:59:05 -0500
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Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 08:59:05 -0500 From: Brett Bixler <bxb11@psu.edu> Subject: [ifets] Introduction
Forum website: http://ifets.gmd.de/
Email address for sending message to the list ifets@gmd.de
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I'm the Senior Instructional Designer at the Jack P. Royer Center for
Learning and Academic Technologies at Penn State. I've been involved in
the CAI/CBT area since 1983. My interest in ITS stems from my
frustration in attempting to create CAI for developing higher order
thinking skills (HOTS), such as problem solving.
The current tools just don't allow us to do this well, if at all. We
need adaptive systems we can integrate into authoring software so we
can track, assess, recommend, coach, advise, etc. students <italic>as
they perform a task</italic>. ITS, if it ever lives up to its promises,
would give us this capability.
Many people in the field that I know have written off ITS, adapting a
constructivist philosophy where the computer become just a tool that's
used to bring to life concepts and facilitate HOTS learning. This
implies that there's someone (instructor, professor, etc) there to
assess the student's progress.
While I certainly don't advocate we do away with instructors in favor
of ITSs, there are many cases where these systems could really work
well. Distance education, where you have one learner at a remote site -
no instructor immediately available - is a fine example. I'm sure you
can think of many others.
Anyway, that's my two cents. I look forward to reading the cents of
others on this list! ;-)
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* Brett Bixler *
* Senior Instructional Designer *
* The Jack P. Royer Center for *
* Learning and Academic Technologies (C-LAT) *
* 101 University Support 1 Bldg. *
* Univ. Pk., PA 16802 *
* 814-863-4532 *
* http://www.clat.psu.edu/homes/bxb11/home.html *
* *
* "Tell me and I'll forget. *
* Teach me and I'll remember. *
* Involve me and I'll learn." *
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