Lowering the Technical Skill Requirements for Building Intelligent Tutors: A Review of Authoring Tools

Educational technologies have come to play an important role in advancing the science of learning. By consistently applying a set of pedagogical policies (and not getting tired while doing so), educational technologies can be used to address precise questions about how people learn and how to best help them. The resulting findings often answer important questions about human learning, which, in turn, can positively influence the design of future educational technologies or even possibly educational practices. A second way learning science researchers seek to have impact is by getting the technology in the hands of as many learners as possible. Unfortunately, with more users come more requirements, and therefore, additional questions educational software designers need to address. For example, can a system be tailored to the specific needs of a class, teacher, or individual learner? Can it be used in a new task domain? Is it possible to reorganize or create new course content? Can the pedagogical approach and/or content embedded in the system be adjusted or even replaced? Sadly, but understandably, software that is created for lab studies or specific end-user needs do not often address these questions. If the aim is to “go big,” then it is no longer feasible to create one system suited for all needs tools for configuring and creating content are a requirement.