ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the research literature concerned with the student modeling component of intelligent tutoring systems. An intelligent tutoring system, or ITS, is a computer program that instructs the student in an intelligent way. There is no accepted definition of what it means to teach intelligently. However, a characteristic shared by many ITSs is that they infer a model of the student’s current understanding of the subject matter and use this individualized model to adapt the instruction to the student’s needs. The component of an ITS that represents the student’s current state of knowledge is called the student model. Inferring a student model is called diagnosis because it is much like the medical task of inferring a hidden physiological state (i.e., a disease) from observable signs (i.e., symptoms). An ITS diagnostic system uncovers a hidden cognitive state (the student’s knowledge of the subject matter) from observable behavior.
