An Individualized Web-Based Algebra Tutor Based on Dynamic Deep Model Tracing

This paper describes the motivations and goals of the MATHESIS project which concerns the development of an intelligent authoring environment for cognitive math tutors. It also describes the first implemented component of the project, the MATHESIS algebra tutor, a cognitive web-based tutor for algebraic expressions’ expanding and factoring. The tutor uses cognitive model tracing by dynamically generating the plausible steps, checking them against student’s solution steps and intervening when errors occur. Additionally, the tutor monitors the student’s mastery of knowledge from problem to problem, i.e. the various cognitive skills. The tutor will be used as a prototype for the development of an ontology that will contain all of the tutor’s knowledge. This ontology will eventually guide the creation of the authoring tools that will make faster and easier the creation of other cognitive tutors.