Showing papers by "Riichiro Mizoguchi published in 2010"

Advances in Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Abstract: The idea for this book on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) was sparked by the success of the ITS08 international conference. The number of presentations and their quality bore witness to the vitality and maturity of the field, and the enthusiasm of the participants held out a promise of sustainability and innovative research. Long life to ITS research! The book is divided into five parts. The introductory chapters to these parts, which summarize foundations, developments, strengths and weaknesses in each of the areas covered, are addressed to all readers. For those who want more in-depth knowledge, we give the floor to researchers who present their work, their results, and their view of what the future holds. It is our hope that all readers will find the book informative and thought-provoking.

Introduction: What Are Intelligent Tutoring Systems, and Why This Book?

Abstract: This introductory chapter opens the doors to the field of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) and ITS research. A historical perspective provides insight into the genesis of the field, which is a prerequisite for understanding the recent advances presented in the book. Challenges specific to the field are introduced, and the community and its dynamics are described. The chapter ends with a presentation of the book’s contents and organization.

The foundations of a theory-aware authoring tool for CSCL design

Abstract: One of the most useful ways to enhance collaboration is to create scenarios where learners are able to interact more effectively. Nevertheless, the design of pedagogically sound and well-thought-out collaborative learning scenarios is a complex issue. This is due to the context of group learning where the synergy among learners' interactions affects learning processes and, hence, the learning outcome. Although many advances have been made to support the designing of collaborative learning scenarios through technology, a more systematic approach is lacking. With the limitations of the current designing methods and tools, it is difficult to develop intelligent authoring systems that can guide users in order to produce more effective collaboration. One of the main difficulties with creating a more consistent (computer-understandable) approach to designing collaboration is the necessity of proposing better ways to formalize the group learning processes. In this paper, we present an innovative approach that uses ontologies and concepts from learning theories to create a framework that represents collaborative learning and its processes. Ontologies provide the necessary formalization to represent collaboration, while learning theories provide the concepts to justify and support the development of effective learning scenarios. Such an approach contributes to establish the foundations for the development of the next generation of intelligent authoring systems referred to as theory-aware systems. To verify the viability and usefulness of our proposed ontological framework in the context of systematic design, the development and use of an intelligent authoring tool for CSCL design is presented. This system is able to reason on ontologies to give suggestions that help users to create theory-compliant collaborative learning scenarios. We carried out several experiments with teachers in a geometry drawing course and the results indicate that the system helps teachers to create and interchange their scenarios more easily and facilitates the selection of important pedagogical strategies that influence positively the designing and effectiveness of group activities.

Characterizing Functions based on Ontological Models from an Engineering Point of View

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to characterize some definitions of function in engineering and philosophy from an engineering point of view. To do this, this paper firstly discusses some fundamental kinds of function based on ontological distinctions. Next, based on them, we characterize our definition with justifications from the engineering view and present an ontological model of artifact function along the product life-cycle. Then, we try to characterize a philosophical definition of biological organs using the model. Next, we discuss function of a non-biological (non-organic) natural thing. Lastly, we characterize functions of an artifact, a biological organ and a non-biological natural thing based on another ontological model along the evolution of creatures.

An authoring tool to support the design and use of theory-based collaborative learning activities

Abstract: Design of pedagogically sound collaborative learning (CL) activities is a complex task, but necessary if the goal is to support learning Through the design of CL scenarios, a designer can define structures that increase the chance for learning to occur It means that the effectiveness of the collaboration depends on the transformation of the designer's intentions into elements that will constitute the learning scenario To support the creation of CL scenarios this paper presents an intelligent authoring tool that is equipped with the knowledge about different pedagogies and practices related to collaboration Through the use of this information, the tool can provide intelligent guidance that support designers to create more effective CL scenarios The results of an experiment suggest that our tool helps teachers to more easily introduce CL activities in classroom and creates favorable conditions for students to perform collaboration improving their overall learning performance throughout the year.

Ontology-Based Formal Modeling of the Pedagogical World: Tutor Modeling

Abstract: This chapter discusses an ontological approach to tutoring actions design as a special case of target-world modeling. Although a lot of research on the learner model has been done to improve the adaptivity of intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), the modeling of tutoring actions has not been sufficiently investigated. The authors have been performing ontological modeling of learning/instructional theories to remedy this situation. Intelligent tutoring systems must have a good number of primitive actions to generate intelligent actions. Paying close attention to the importance of modeling tutoring actions, we have developed an ontology of learning/instructional theories, named OMNIBUS, in the ITS domain. Drawing on our long experience in ontological engineering research, this chapter discusses the modeling of tutoring actions as well as target-world modeling per se, using an example of learning/instructional actions from the OMNIBUS/SMARTIES project.

Strategy-centred modelling for better understanding of learning/instructional theories

Abstract: Structuring learning/instructional theories suffer from the issue of 'paradigms', which makes them even more challenging. This paper discusses the conceptualisation of the theories and proposes a mechanism to provide perspectives for understanding and utilising them. Two types of conceptualisation proposed in this paper reveal their characteristics from a variety of viewpoints.

Practical considerations on identity for instance management in ontological investigation

Abstract: For knowledge representation based on ontology and its use, it is desirable to understand phenomena in the target world as precisely and deeply as possible. The ontology should reflect the understanding of them and provide a fundamental framework to manage the behavior of instances adequately. The management of instance model requires identity of things. Contrary to the common understanding, there are several kinds of identity according to the purpose of its use. This paper discusses how many kinds of identity exist and what kind of identity suits to what purpose. Based on the consideration result we suggest four kinds of identity and discuss what situation to be applied.

Task-oriented user modeling method and its application to service navigation on the web

Abstract: Value of information accumulated on the Web should be enhanced if it is provided to the user who just faces to a problematic situation which can be solved by the information. The authors have been investigating a task-oriented menu, which enables users to search for mobile internet services not by category but by situation of the users. Construction of the task-oriented menu is based on a user modeling method which supports descriptions of user activities, such as task execution and defeating obstacles encountered during the task, which in turn represents users' situations and/or needs for certain information. We have built task models of the mobile users which covered about 97% of the assumed situations of mobile internet services. Then we reorganized "contexts" in the model and designed a menu hierarchy from the view point of the task. We have linked the designed menu to the set of actual mobile internet service sites included in the i-mode service operated by NTT docomo, consists of 5016 services. Among them, 4817 services are properly connected to the menu. This paper introduces a framework for real scale task-oriented menu system for mobile service navigation with its relations to the SNS applications as knowledge resources.

Building an ontology-based system which supports the instructional design process

Abstract: In this study, we have developed a system called FIMA (Flexible Instructional Design Support Multi-Agent System) which supports teachers dynamically in designing instruction by facilitating their thinking in ways characteristic of expert teachers' thought processes: 1) multiple viewpoints thinking, 2) contextualized thinking and 3) the problem framing and reframing strategy. We especially focus on instructional design that integrates the use of information and communication technology (ICT). In this paper, we show examples of concrete supports which the FIMA prototype system we have built provides.

Ontological Modeling for Reflective Instructional Design: A Case Study on Modeling a Lesson Plan

Abstract: This paper discusses computer-based support for self-reflection of teachers in a lesson design task. One of the keys to success in the design task is an alternating cycle of externalization of ideas and reflection resulting from those externalized ideas. However, it is difficult for teachers to externalize their ideas to generate effective reflection. This study aims at enhancing reflection by ontological modeling of the design rationale of a lesson plan. The result of a trial in which a teacher externalized the design rationale of her plan and investigated reflection generated in the trial is reported here.

Development of fundamental technologies for better understanding of clinical medical ontologies

Abstract: We have been building a Japanese medical ontology that provides an intelligent infrastructure for systematization and synthetic understanding of medical knowledge on a large scale. The objectives of our research include building a medical ontology and developing application systems based on it. We identified a few common fundamental technologies for understanding the medical ontology and implemented them. The main features of these technologies are summarized as the following two functions: dynamically generating is-a hierarchy according to the user’s interest, and providing natural language explanations. We built a prototype medical information service system using these fundamental technologies. We conducted an informal evaluation in a workshop and received favorable comments from medical experts.

A method of structuring communication data for in-vehicle information service

Abstract: New in-vehicle information provision services have started according to the progress of data communication infrastructure surrounding vehicles, where the vehicles can connect to communication network outside. In such information services, a large amount of various data related to vehicles and/or drivers will be stored to the datacenter over the network in near future. Data and functions which are currently equipped with in-vehicle devices will be shifted to the datacenter, and these data and functions will be delivered to each of vehicles from the data center in need. In this paper, we propose a method of structuring such data based on ontological engineering approach for the purpose of providing drivers with useful information utilizing a large amount of communication data effectively. That is, we introduce a mechanism of providing drivers with information effectively, using the data structure which refers to ontology as a data schema. Also we describe about the information space with the contents of information to provide and the driver model with ontology.

An extension of an environment for building/using ontologies "hozo" toward practical ontology engineering

Abstract: Through the spread of ontological engineering, many technologies and software tool for ontology construction were developed. By using them, many ontologies have been constructed in various domains. On these backgrounds, we have been developing an ontology engineering environment “Hozo” and using the tool to construct a lot of ontologies in various domains such as medical science, bioinformatics, nano-technology, education, environment engineering and so on. Through these practical experiences, we found out many issues concerning ontology construction and have solved them by enhancing the ontological theories and technical functions of Hozo. The number of items of improvements amounts to 67 in both theoretical and practical issues. This paper focuses on the practical issues and presents the improved functions of Hozo. Then, we consider how those functions have been useful for ontology construction through actual uses in six ontology development projects and evaluation experiment of usability of Hozo. Through these extensions, usability and reliability of Hozo have been improved. It also would contribute to development of other ontology engineering environments.

A new framework of metacognition with abstraction/instantiation operations

Abstract: While there is acknowledgement of the importance of metacognition in education, some researchers indicate that the domain of metacognition lacks coherence In order to overcome this issue, it is necessary that each researcher explains his own approach by using his own or other people's framework of metacognition We propose a new framework for metacognition which explains what types of metacognition-driven learning occur so to enable regulation of cognitive activities With this framework, it becomes possible not only to identify what types of metacognitive activity a computer system supports but also to propose new functions that support the various types of metacognitive activities.

A Consideration of Quality-Attribute-Property for Interoperability of Quality Data

Abstract: Descriptions of attribute and quality are essential elements in ontology developments. Needless to say, science data are description of attributes of target things and it is an important role of ontology to support the validity of and interoperability between the description. Although some upper ontologies such as DOLCE, BFO, etc. are already developed and extensively used, a careful examination reveals some rooms for improvement of them. While each ontology covers quality and quantity, the mutual interchangeability among these ontologies is not considered because each has been designed intended to develop a ``correct'' ontology of quality and quantity. Furthermore, due to variety of ways of data description, no single ontology can cover all the existing scientific data. In this paper, we investigate ``quality'' and ``value'' from an ontological viewpoint and propose a conceptual framework to deal with attribute, property and quality appearing in existing data descriptions in the nanotechnology domain. This framework can be considered as a reference ontology for describing quality with existing upper ontology. Furthermore, on the basis of the results of the consideration, we evaluate and refine a conceptual hierarchy of materials functions which has been built by nanomaterials researchers. Through the evaluation process, we discuss an effect of the definition of a conceptual framework for building/refining ontology. Such conceptual consideration about quality and value is not only the problem in nanomaterials domain but also a first step toward advancement of an intelligent sharing of scientific data in e-Science.