ABSTRACT
The project, an observational study of nontechnical subject-matter experts (SMEs) developing a knowledge base for the Learn, Explore, and Practice (LEAP) intelligent tutoring platform, had several goals. Ideally, the existence of such tools enables course developers, instructors, and subject-matter experts to develop and maintain knowledge bases without the support, or with minimal support, of computer scientists in a shorter period of time. In any knowledge-base development effort relying on nontechnical subject-matter experts, it is critical to provide a sufficient training interval before embarking on development, regardless of whether tools are available. The observational study of the LEAP authoring process by nontechnical subject-matter experts points to the absolute necessity of the development of good authoring tools for knowledge-base development. The knowledge-acquisition expert’s role in ITS development is to acquire and encode information obtained from instructional designers, course developers, and subject-matter experts.
