ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the design approach that emerged from the efforts of the MiGen team to develop an intelligent exploratory learning environment (ELE) for the classroom. The MiGen system supports students directly when possible, and also provides information to teachers aiming to assist them in their role in the classroom. Designing such a learning environment entails a set of challenges that differ somewhat from those faced in the design of ‘traditional’ Intelligent Tutoring Systems or other learning environments, which typically have a clear delimitation of the domain and well-defined sequences of possible steps to be performed. In this chapter we focus on two challenges rooted in the different style of interaction and epistemology underlying exploratory environments, coupled with the need for iterative design and development that considers carefully the context within which such environments would be used.
