Conversation Theory - Improving Knowledge Structures

The central purpose of this application is prototype an interface to build a dynamic model of knowledge of any topic.  Traditional architectures of intelligent tutoring systems employ a model of student knowledge and a model of expert knowledge.  The difference between these models is what the student has yet to learn.  Since the 1970s, these models have become more and more complex resulting in a wide range of research related to how to improve the student model and the expert model, and how to compare them for differences.  Artificial Intelligence has a strong hold in this arena because of the similarities between model-generation and the definition of artificial intelligence espoused by scientists for decades.
The purpose of this project within this context is to take a small step toward applying technology to improve teaching and learning.  Specifically, this project takes the ideas from Conversation Theory and applies them to the design and development of an interface to build an entailment mesh.  An entailment mesh is an instructional design mechanism for instructors, instructional designers, and educational technology developers.  It is a way to organize knowledge that is different from current knowledge representation systems.  This application helps the user participate in a knowledge generating activity either by oneself or with other users.  Instructors, students, instructional designers, and educational technology developers will all find value through this tool.  Instructors will find benefit in TW by building a more coherent (tight) curriculum including aligning the curriculum with course objectives and skills.  Students will find value in TW by challenging what they think they know on a topic and learning from themselves and others what they did not know they did not know.  Instructional designers can find value in TW by comparing the knowledge structures they have embedded in instructional products and services with the dynamic knowledge structures afford by TW.  Finally, educational technology developers will discover value in TW by learning how dynamic knowledge structures will lead to improving the design of adaptive learning technologies.


http://files.gove.net/shares/files/15w/jsc44/Final_Project_Write-up.pdf

http://files.gove.net/shares/files/15w/jsc44/Building_Entailment_Meshes.xlsm