Authoring Model-Tracing Cognitive Tutors

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) that employ a model-tracing methodology have consistently shown their effectiveness. However, what evidently makes these tutors effective, the cognitive model embedded within them, has traditionally been difficult to create, requiring great expertise and time, both of which come at a cost. Furthermore, an interface has to be constructed that communicates with the cognitive model. Together these constitute a high bar that needs to be crossed in order to create such a tutor. We outline a system that lowers this bar on both accounts and that has been used to produce commercial-quality tutors. First, we discuss and evaluate a tool that allows authors who are not cognitive scientists or programmers to create a cognitive model. Second, we detail a way for this cognitive model to communicate with third-party interfaces.