DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A HYPERMEDIA INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEM IN AN AIR FORCE DOMAIN

ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING APPROACHES TO IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS IS THE USE OF INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEMS (ITSS) THAT ACHIEVE A STUDENT-TO-TEACHER RATIO OF ONE-TO-ONE THROUGH THE USE OF COMBINATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES AND HYPERMEDIA. TO DATE, MOST OF THE PROJECTS TO DEVELOP SUCH SYSTEMS HAVE HAD REDUCED SUCCESS DUE TO A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS THAT ARE INHERENT IN THE HYPERMEDIA TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM. WE PRESENT AN ANALYSIS OF KNOWN WEAKNESES IN SUCH SYSTEMS, AND A FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AN OBJECT-ORIENTED STRUCTURED HYPERMEDIA SYSTEM THAT WILL RESOLVE THESE WEAKNESSES AND FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT SYSTEM TO VALIDATE THE EFFICACY OF THIS TECHNOLOGY. THE TEAM ASSEMBLED FOR THIS TASK HAS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OBJECTORIENTED SYSTEMS, AND IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES INCLUDING HYPERMEDIA SYSTEMS ACROSS A RANGE OF FIELD ENVIRONMENTS.