Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

When More Intelligent Tutoring in the Form of Buggy Messages Does not Help

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9112))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

This paper reports on the null results from two large scale randomized controlled trials that were run in the ASSISTments online tutoring system. Both studies attempted to use reactive buggy messages to help students learn; one in the form of short 20–30 second videos and another in the form of large color-coded text. Bug messages were supplied for common wrong answers for one-step equation problems in both studies. Despite the large amount of prior research done on error analysis, both interventions using the predicted common wrong answers were unsuccessful at helping students.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Brown, J.S., Burton, R.R.: Diagnostic Models for Procedural Bugs in Basic Mathematical Skills*. Cognitive science 2(2), 155–192 (1978)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Brown, J.S., VanLehn, K.: Repair theory: A generative theory of bugs in procedural skills. Cognitive science 4(4), 379–426 (1980)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Burton, R.B.: DEBUGGY: diagnosis of errors in basic mathematical skills. In: Sherman, D., Brown, J.S. (eds.) Intelligent tutoring systems. Academic Press, London (1981)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Selent, D., Heffernan, N.: Reducing student hint use by creating buggy messages from machine learned incorrect processes. In: Trausan-Matu, S., Boyer, K.E., Crosby, M., Panourgia, K. (eds.) ITS 2014. LNCS, vol. 8474, pp. 674–675. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Sison, R., Shimura, M.: Student modeling and machine learning. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education (IJAIED) 9, 128–158 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Sleeman, D.: Basic algebra revisited: a study with 14-year-olds. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 22(2), 127–149 (1985)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Sleeman, D.: Mis-generalisation: an explanation of observed mal-rules. In: Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, pp. 51–56 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Van Lehn, K.: Bugs are not enough: Empirical studies of bugs, impasses and repairs in procedural skills. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  9. https://sites.google.com/site/assistmentsdata/projects/selent2015

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA

    Douglas Selent & Neil Heffernan

Authors
  1. Douglas Selent
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Neil Heffernan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas Selent .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Cristina Conati

  2. Computer Science Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

    Neil Heffernan

  3. Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Antonija Mitrovic

  4. E.T.S.I. Informática, Universidad National de Educacion a Distancia, Madrid, Spain

    M. Felisa Verdejo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Selent, D., Heffernan, N. (2015). When More Intelligent Tutoring in the Form of Buggy Messages Does not Help. In: Conati, C., Heffernan, N., Mitrovic, A., Verdejo, M. (eds) Artificial Intelligence in Education. AIED 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9112. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19773-9_112

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19773-9_112

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19772-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19773-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation