Authoring Problem-Solving Tutors: A Comparison between ASTUS and CTAT

ASTUS is an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) framework for problem-solving domains. In this chapter we present a study we performed to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of ASTUS compared to the well-known Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools (CTAT) framework. To challenge their capacity to handle a comprehensive model of a well-defined task, we built a multi-column subtraction tutor (model and interface) with each framework. We incorporated into the model various pedagogically relevant procedural errors taken from the literature, to see how each framework deals with complex situations where remedial help may be needed. We successfully encoded the model with both frameworks and found situations in which we consider ASTUS to surpass CTAT. Examples of these include: ambiguous steps, errors with multiple (possibly correct) steps, composite errors, and off-path steps. Selected scenarios in the multi-column subtraction domain are presented to illustrate that ASTUS can show a more sophisticated behavior in these situations. ASTUS achieves this by relying on an examinable hierarchical knowledge representation system and a domain-independent MVC-based approach to build the tutors’ interface.