The Teaching Strategy in e-Learning Based on PID Control and Item Response Theory

Summary With the goal of providing instruction with an optimum method to achieve the target given in the learning process of the learner, PID control theory was applied and an assessment was made of the proportion(P), integral(I), and differential(D) of the learner’s level of understanding. Using these parameters, a web server system was constructed as a teaching model adopting learning rules extracted from optimum problems. Using the item response theory, problem characteristics were analyzed by obtaining the discrimination power and difficulty level of each problem, and each learner’s ability was also estimated. Characteristic functions of one set of tests were identified by combining the problem characteristics obtained. These functions were incorporated in the Matlab simulation software, and referring the learning characteristics of each learner in time series, the relation between the difficulty level of problem determined by manipulation using PID control and the learner’s ability was obtained. With this simulation, a method was constructed to optimally arrange learning materials based on the hierarchical learning theory.