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The aims of this project are to:
REDEEM in an ITS authoring tool that is designed to be simple and efficient to use. Ideally, classroom teachers with little prior experiences with ITS development will be able to create their own ITSs from existing CBT.
Teachers use the authoring tools to describe and enhance CBT, for example, by adding questions, hints, reflection points, and prompts for non-computer based tasks. They also differentiare to the needs of different students by creating student categories and associating different teaching strategies and material with these categories. Then an ITS shell is delivers the course to students in ways that are adapted to their needs. (See here for further details)
Creating a teaching strategy
REDEEM has been found to be time efficient and usable. Teachers can be trained to use REDEEM in around 90 minutes. They create ITSs from existing CBT at around 3 hours per hour of instruction.
Project 1 involved four different educators authoring the same CBT (Understanding Shapes) for a virtual class of primary school children to explore if teachers are able to use REDEEM to reflect their pedagoic preferences. The results of the study showed that teachers were able to use the functions that REDEEM provides. It also revealed interesting inter-author differences. For example, teachers differed in a) how much complicated material they would allow less experienced children to see, b) their views of the correct order to view the material and c)how many teaching strategies were needed to support the classes' needs. However, the teaching strategies they designed for less experienced children were similar. Such studies provide informative insights into the nature of teachers' expertise. The teachers who took part in the study also felt that REDEEM provided them with a unique opportunity to reflect upon their own knowledge.
Project 2 involved 30 trainee teachers. These students were given a previously authored course and were asked to differentiate it to the needs of a virtual class of 30 children. Results from this study are still being analysed but it is revealing interesting differences between how first and final year students approach the task.
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The experimental classroom |
Project 3 is exploring whether REDEEM provides additional educational benefits when compared to the original CBT. Two secondary school teachers have authored two courses on genetics. 100 students have taken part in the experiment each of which have experienced one CBT course and one REDEEM course.
| Study | Subjects | ITSs | Gain | Effect size |
| Genetics at Uni | 86, 14-16yrs | 5 ITSs: different content & strategies |
RED = 10% CBT = 8% |
0.21 |
| Genetics in School | 15, 14-16 yrs | 3 ITSs: different content |
RED = 16% CBT = 8% |
0.82 * |
The table above shows summaries the two studies. It shows that in one case REDEEM only let to a slight difference but in the same case students learnt considerably more from REDEEM than they did from CBT. Detailed analysis of process measures is on-going.
| Working with REDEEM |
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Ainsworth, S.E. & Grimshaw, S.K. (2004) Evaluating the REDEEM authoring tool: Can teachers create effective learning environments? International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 14(3/4), 279-312.
Ainsworth, S.E & Fleming, P.F. (2004) Teachers as instructional designers: Does involving a classroom teacher in the design of computer-based learning environments improve their effectiveness? In Gerjets, P., Kirschner, P. A., Elen, J. & Joiner, R. (Eds.) (2004). Instructional design for effective and enjoyable computer- supported learning. Proceedings of the first joint meeting of the EARLI SIGs Instructional Design and Learning and Instruction with Computers, pp 283-291
Ainsworth, S.E., Major, N., Grimshaw, S.K., Hayes, M., Underwood, J.D., Williams, B. & Wood, D.J. (2003). REDEEM: Simple Intelligent Tutoring Systems From Usable Tools in T. Murray, S. Blessing & S.E. Ainsworth (2003). Advanced Tools for Advanced Technology Learning Environments. pp. 205-232. Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Ainsworth, S.E., Grimshaw, S.K. & Underwood, D.J. (2002) Are ITSs created with the REDEEM authoring tool more effective than ‘dumb’ courseware? In S.A. Cerri & G. Gouardères & F. Paraguaçu (Eds.), Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp. 883-892). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Ainsworth, S.E. Underwood, J.D. & Grimshaw, S.K. (2000) Using an ITS Authoring Tool to Explore Educators' Use of Instructional Strategies. In G. Gauthier, C. Frasson and K. VanLehn (Eds.) Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference ITS 2000. pp 182-191.
Ainsworth, S.E., Grimshaw, S.K. & Underwood, D.J. (1999) Teachers as designers: Using REDEEM to create ITSs for the classroom. Computers and Education, 33(2/3),171-188.
Ainsworth, S.E., Underwood, J.D. & Grimshaw, S.K. (1999) Formatively Evaluating REDEEM: An authoring environment for Intelligent Tutoring Systems. In Lajoi, S. & Vivet, M. (Eds) Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp93-100. Amersterdam: IOS press.