A Suite of Authoring Tools for the Design of Structural Communication Activities in Web-Based Environments

Resumo

Resumo: This paper presents the rationale for and the architecture of an intelligent authoring environment and tool set that supports the work of teachers-authors who wish to develop instruction using the pedagogical technique called Structural Communication. Structural Communication (SC) is a pedagogical technique that can provide an objective snapshot of a participant’s sophisticated intellectual skills and cognitive structures. The SC can be used to develop Problem Based Learning Instruction in a ITS paradigm. The computer environment uses techniques of Automatic Text Summarization to help teachers in the authoring process and Clusters Algorithms to help to identify the main strategies and help to author the appropriate feedback. The environment permits the authors of SC exercises to share their expertise with other teachers and domain experts, thus acting as a collaborative design and learning environment for the teachers.

Abstract: This paper presents the rationale for and the architecture of an intelligent authoring environment and tool set that supports the work of teachers-authors who wish to develop instruction using the pedagogical technique called Structural Communication. Structural Communication (SC) is a pedagogical technique that can provide an objective snapshot of a participant’s sophisticated intellectual skills and cognitive structures. The SC can be used to develop Problem Based Learning Instruction in a ITS paradigm. The computer environment uses techniques of Automatic Text Summarization to help teachers in the authoring process and Clusters Algorithms to help to identify the main strategies and help to author the appropriate feedback. The environment permits the authors of SC exercises to share their expertise with other teachers and domain experts, thus acting as a collaborative design and learning environment for the teachers.