Some Effects of Computer Technology… -Intelligent CAI and Individualization - The Research Center on Computing & Society

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Marvin J. Croy
Michael G. Green
James R. Cook

2. Intelligent CAI and Individualization

The great promise of computers for individualization in education is often dampened by the impact that this technology may have upon human-centered processes of instruction. In particular, the prospect of replacing teachers by computers looms on the horizon. It is difficult to imagine a use of computers as instructional devices that does not in some way take over some task previously performed by human teachers. With the possible exception of distance education and other programs which provide entire courses, however, relatively few applications are designed to completely replace human teachers. Replacement of teachers by computers can thus be thought of as a continuum with distance education at one end and perhaps supplementary drill and practice lessons at the other. If so, then any instructional computer program can be characterized as replacing human teachers to some degree. With this point understood it is probably best, when contemplating the impact of computers on the educational process, to shift the focus to particular activities of teachers and to the roles which those activities place teachers in. This impact may be magnified as CAI programs become more sophisticated. Application of artificial intelligence research, for example, aims at producing “intelligent” computer-assisted instruction (ICAI). When describing the introduction of an intelligent geometry tutoring system into a high school setting, Chaiklin and Lewis (1988) concluded that “both the role of the teacher and the classroom structure changed significantly when ICAI went into the classroom.”2 In this application students spent most of their learning time with the tutoring system and met with their instructor only during office hours. During these meetings, the teacher played the role of “learning consultant.” Sleeman and Brown (1982) envision intelligent CAI progressing to the point in which programs take up the primary instructional task~ and are only in occasional need of human interaction as a “backup.”3 Much of the development of CAI appears to be moving in a related, if less extreme, direction. Computer programs are often designed to be increasingly sophisticated so as to take responsibility for tasks previously performed by teachers. One consequence is that the role of the teacher is changing. Moreover, this change is making computer programs rather than human teachers responsible for tailoring instruction to individual needs.

The general question raised by these developments is whether teachers will play a primary or secondary role relative to computer programs in the instructional process. But a more particular question has been raised in respect to our current project. Perhaps the possibility of replacing the special student-teacher meetings with a more sophisticated computer program should be explored. Could whatever is achieved during those sessions be attained by having students interact with a computer program only? Exactly what are the benefits which result from the special sessions? In order to answer these questions, a two-year research project was launched. The projects’ aims were not only to document the impact of the current practice regarding special student-teacher meetings but also to determine the consequences of replacing those meetings with a more capable computer program. What differences would there be, for example, between receiving feedback from the computer as opposed to the teacher? The plan for answering these questions is divided into two stages. The first stage is to establish a set of measures and procedures which will reliably exhibit the consequences of the innovation being considered. This has been accomplished during the first year of the project, a year primarily committed to “pilot testing.” The second stage, to be carried out in year two of the project, is to use those measures and techniques in an intensive empirical study.

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