Adaptive Simple Sequencing Instruction Support Toolkit (ASSIST)

IAI will design and develop the Adaptive Simple Sequencing Instruction Support Toolkit (ASSIST), an easy-to-use software suite to facilitate the rapid transformation of Web-based learning so that it can (a) adapt to students’ differing needs and performance, (b) provide opportunities for learner interaction, and (c) function in a SCORM 2004 conformant learning environment. ASSIST will enhance the feasibility of delivering the most efficacious features of adaptive instruction usually found in ITS using existing SCORM-conformant learning content. ASSIST will build upon lessons learned from previous authoring tools such as Ainsworth’s REDEEM. ASSIST will offer pedagogic features such as instructional adaptivity, content sequencing, student assessment and contingent help. Instructors will be able to create and tailor the mix of these features to different student types, without programming expertise. As such, ASSIST should yield a significant improvement in individual learning outcomes and student appeal. In Phase 1 we will design ASSIST , build a prototype and conduct limited user testing. If successful, in Phase 2 we will develop a fully functional system designed for open access use as a web service. BENEFITS: Intelligent Automation, Inc. is committed to the practical and commercial success of ASSIST. The principal audience for ASSIST is instructional designers in industry, government and education. We believe there is a desire among this group for tools that can help make Web-based instruction more interactive, and sensitive to student’s needs, while maintaining SCORM conformance. Our niche is in making SCORM conformance an easy-to-implement feature of distance learning through tools that are designed for non-programmers. We anticipate the first release of ASSIST to be made available as an open-access web service, to give instructional designers and researchers an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness and utility of ASSIST as well as the instruction created using ASSIST. If successful in this open-source model, IAI will then develop a parallel, more full-featured version of ASSIST which it will license commercially to providers of distributed learning programs, courseware developers, or vendors of commercial authoring tools. Alternatively, ASSIST could be marketed in collaboration with an authoring tool or Learning Management System vendor.