Agents in m-Learning Systems Based on Intelligent Tutoring

摘要

Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) represent a particular kind of e-learning systems, which base their operation on the simulation of a human teacher in the learning and teaching process. With the advent of the mobile computing paradigm, m-learning systems, as the "portable and personal" fashion of e-learning, paved the way to the introduction of mobile intelligent tutoring. Mobile intelligent tutoring systems (MITSs) are targeted to fit into a mobile learner's daily routine without disrupting her/his other activities, but conversely enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of learning in the context of handheld terminals of restricted capabilities. As in the non-portable ITS counterparts, MITSs' tasks are taken over by agents, making them agent-based systems. In this paper we discuss the mobile intelligent tutoring paradigm, as well as the agent types to be used in the m-learning environment along with the presently affordable agent infrastructure enabling MITS implementation, and corroborate this with the description of a mobile intelligent tutoring model we are developing.