Sunday, 17 July 2016, 14:00 - 17:30

Dr. Robert Sottilare (short bio)
U.S. Army Research Laboratory

Dr. Anne M. Sinatra (short bio)
U.S. Army Research Laboratory

Dr. Benjamin Goldberg (short bio)
U.S. Army Research Laboratory

Objectives:

Provide an overview of the GIFT authoring tools to demonstrate their power and flexibility in supporting tailored instruction for training and education

Content and Benefits:

This tutorial includes a review the GIFT Authoring Tool (GAT) and its component processes to allow teachers/instructors to construct tailored courses without a background in computer science or instructional design. The resulting courses can be constructed to adapt to the learning needs of users to provide efficient instruction and shorter time to competency. GIFT is a cloud-based application which operates in a browser and includes tools to automatically regulate: course flow, adaptation of feedback and support, surveys and assessments of learning objectives, and construction of after-action reviews (post-course performance review). GIFT is an open-source software application. This tutorial will include a review of previously authored courses to provide examples of the GIFT authoring tools.

Target Audience:

Novice, journeyman, and expert teachers, instructors, and course managers interested in reducing the time/skill required to author adaptive instruction where students interact one-to-one with software-based tutors.

Tutorial Level:

Introductory

Relevant Links:

• https://gifttutoring.org
• https://cloud.gifttutoring.org/dashboard
• https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/documents

Bio Sketch of Presenter:

Dr. Robert A. Sottilare leads adaptive training research within the US Army Research Laboratory where the focus of his research is automated authoring, automated instructional management, and evaluation tools and methods for intelligent tutoring systems. His work is widely published and includes articles in the Cognitive Technology Journal, the Educational Technology Journal, and the Journal for Defense Modeling & Simulation. Dr. Sottilare is a co-creator of the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT), an open-source tutoring architecture, and he is the chief editor for the Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems book series. He is a visiting scientist and lecturer at the United States Military Academy and a graduate faculty scholar at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Sottilare received his doctorate in Modeling & Simulation from the University of Central Florida with a focus in intelligent systems. In 2012, he was honored as the inaugural recipient of the U.S. Army Research Development & Engineering Command’s Modeling & Simulation Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Dr. Anne M. Sinatra is a member of the adaptive training research team at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory’s (ARL) Human Research and Engineering Directorate (HRED) in Orlando, FL. Her research focuses on cognitive and human factors psychology. She has specific interest in how information relating to the self and about those that one is familiar with can aid in memory, recall, and tutoring. Her dissertation research evaluated the impact of using degraded speech and a familiar story on attention/recall in a dichotic listening task. Her work has been published in the Journal of Interaction Studies, and in the conference proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Prior to becoming an ARL Scientist, Dr. Sinatra was an ARL Post Doctoral Fellow and Graduate Research Associate with UCF’s Applied Cognition and Technology (ACAT) Lab, and taught a variety of undergraduate Psychology courses. Dr. Sinatra received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology, as well as her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Central Florida.

 

Dr. Benjamin Goldberg is a member of the adaptive training research team at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory’s (ARL) Human Research and Engineering Directorate (HRED) in Orlando, FL. He’s been actively conducting research in the Modeling & Simulation community for the past seven years with a focus on adaptive learning and how to leverage Artificial Intelligence tools and methods to build and deliver adaptive computer-based instruction. Currently, he is the Adaptive Training teams lead scientist on instructional management related research. Dr. Goldberg is a Ph.D. graduate from the University of Central Florida in the program of Modeling & Simulation, with a focus on human systems. Dr. Goldberg is a co-creator of the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT). He’s been published across several well-known journal and conferences, with recent contributions to the Computers in Human Behavior journal, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) annual meeting proceedings, the proceedings of the Artificial Intelligence in Education and Intelligent Tutoring Systems conferences, and to the Journal of Cognitive Technology.