ABSTRACT

This chapter appraises the progress in bringing advanced research ideas to practice and understands the barriers and opportunities for using Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) technology in industry today. Instructional designers and developers of performance support tools must better understand how the interpretation in practice of such descriptions is pervaded by social concerns and values. Judgments about ideas reflect social allegiances, not just the technical needs of work. This broader perspective on how participation and practice relate to technology moves ITS research well beyond the original focus in the 1970s on how to create models that represent different kinds of processes in the world. Don Norman summarized the process neatly in the title of his position paper, “Collaborative Computing: Collaboration First, Computing Second.” In summary, developing learning technology in practice-bringing ITS methods to widespread use-involves multiple concerns. To develop learning technology in practice, the chapter involves people in projects that straddle academic disciplines.