Automatically Detecting a Student's Preparation for Future Learning: Help Use is Key

We present an automated detector that can predict a student’s later performance on a paper test of preparation for future learning, a post-test involving learning new material to solve problems involving skills that are related but different than the skills studied in the tutoring system. This automated detector operates on features of student learning and behavior within a Cognitive Tutor for College Genetics. We show that this detector predicts preparation for future learning better than Bayesian Knowledge Tracing, a widely-used measure of student learning in Cognitive Tutors. We also find that this detector only needs limited amounts of student data (the first 20% of a student’s data from a tutor lesson) in order to achieve a substantial proportion of its asymptotic predictive power.