Bringing back the AI to AI & ED

The field of AI & Education has been distancing itself from artificial intelligence. This is unfortunate, as AI can contribute greatly to the design of intelligent learning environments (ILE). AI allows the use of more complex models of student behavior, and has the potential to decrease the cost and complexity of building instruction systems. Furthermore, ILE’s can be made more adaptive in their interactions with students through the use of AI. We discuss reasons the field may be undergoing this shift in emphasis away from AI. We provide an overview of two promising techniques: machine learning and Bayesian networks. We then describe how these techniques have been applied to existing systems, and how they provide an advantage over traditional methods. We also discuss possible future extensions of these techniques. Finally, we conclude by examining how the use of these techniques changes the knowledge engineering requirements of building an ILE.