Investigating the Effectiveness of Problem Templates on Learning

Abstract. Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) provide an ideal environment for coached learning. A goal in ITS development is to maximise effective learning which provides the motivation for this research. This paper proposes the notion of problem templates (PTs): mental constructs used by experts to retrieve large amounts of domain-specific data to solve a problem. This research aims to examine the validity of such a construct and investigate its role in regards to effective learning within ITSs. After extensive background research, an evaluation study was performed at the University of Canterbury in which PTs were created in Structured Query Language (SQL) and were used to model students, select problems, and provide customised feedback in the experimental version of SQL-Tutor, an Intelligent Tutoring System. The control group used the original version of SQL-Tutor where pedagogical (problem selection and feedback) and modelling decisions were based on constraints. Prior research, real-life examples, and preliminary results show that such a construct could exist; furthermore, it could be used to help students attain high levels of expertise within a domain. Students using the template based ITS showed high levels of learning within short periods of time. The author suggests further evaluation studies to investigate the extent and detail of its effect on learning. 1