Adding an Instructor Modelling Component to the Architecture of ITS Authoring Tools

The role of instructors as users/authors of ITS authoring tools is very important for the effectiveness of the produced ITSs. In order for authoring tools to benefit the most from the involvement of instructors, they should provide individualised feedback to them throughout the ITS’s life cycle. In most cases the addition of an instructor modelling component to the architecture of an authoring tool may be very beneficial both for the quality of the ITSs to be produced and for the instructor himself/herself. Such an instructor modelling component could acquire information about instructors’ preferences, interests and usual activities concerning the courses they author. In addition it could acquire information about instructors’ level of expertise in particular domains as well as in the authoring process itself. In return it may use this information to increase adaptivity and provision of help to the instructor’s needs. This paper discusses the role that an instructor modelling component may play in ITS authoring tools; it also describes the development of an authoring tool called WEAR and focuses on the incorporation of an instructor modelling component in its architecture and functionality.