Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are adaptive instructional systems which incorporate AI techniques with educational methods. The important feature of these systems is the ability to customize the instructional activities and strategies based on the learner’s characteristics and needs. The ITSs have a classical architecture with four modules which are known by different names in studies. The first part is the expert module. This part includes the knowledge that the student wants to learn (domain knowledge). Furthermore, the techniques of the problem-solving and analyzing the student’s activities in the learning process are used in this module, like human experts. The second part is the student diagnosis module or student model, built by factors such as the level of knowledge, activities, responses, behaviors, learning styles, student’s knowledge deficiency, and other information about learner gathered and updated in the process of learning in the system. The third part is known as instruction, tutor, or pedagogical module. It detects the knowledge deficiency in students and focuses on the strategies and methods of teaching for compensating the identified shortage of knowledge in a specific field. Adaptive feedback, hint, and recommendation-generating, navigation of the learning path, and presenting adaptive educational content constitute the core of this module. The last module is the user interface which is communication part of ITS for controlling the interaction between user and system. There have been some reviews in e-learning systems which have been incorporated with AI techniques to improve the adaptive and customized learning. For an understanding, on the current implications of ITS in education, kindly refer to the chart:
Integrating Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) into the education system aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's goal of transforming the Indian education system using technology and innovative teaching methods. Personalized and adaptive learning is the core of ITS that is used to analyse student data, such as performance on assessments, and provide personalized feedback and instruction to help them improve their understanding of the material. In addition to this, ITS can help students to visualize the relationships between different concepts and understand how they fit together. This can help to improve their understanding of complex topics consequently student engagement and retention and aligns with the NEP 2020's focus on personalized learning and student-centric education. ITS helps to reduce the workload of teachers, allowing them to focus on more important tasks such as providing personalized instruction and feedback to students. Yet another set of advantages of ITS is it provides students with opportunities to practice problem-solving skills and receive immediate feedback. This can help students to develop their critical thinking skills and prepare them for real-world applications. Also, when integrated with virtual laboratories, students get real time feedback as they conduct experiments.
Further, ITS ensures that instruction is consistent and objective, reducing the risk of bias and errors in the teaching process, resulting in unbiased and legit student evaluation. Next, ITS provides greater flexibility in the types of instruction that can be used, allowing for more innovative and effective teaching methods. Lastly, it can provide inclusive education, as it can be designed to provide instruction in multiple languages and can accommodate students with different learning styles and abilities. This aligns with the NEP 2020's goal of providing equitable education for all students. Overall, integrating ITS into the education system can help to create a more effective and student-centric education system that aligns with the NEP 2020's vision of transforming the Indian education system using technology and innovative teaching methods. By providing personalized learning, improving efficiency, ensuring quality assurance, providing flexibility, and promoting inclusivity, ITS can help to create a more effective and equitable education system for all students. The below illustration describes the categorization of the purposes of applying AI techniques in ITSs.
