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Artificial Intelligence and human learning
Computers E&c. Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 405-406, Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
1989 Copyright
0
1989 Maxwell
0360-1315/89 $3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Macmillan plc
BOOK REVIEWS Artificial Intelligence
and Human Learning: Edited by JOHN
SELF.
Chapman & Hall, London. 1988.
800 pp. E37.50 (hardback). Artzjicial Intelligence and Human Learning is a collection of papers designed to give an overview
of the subject referred to as “Intelligent Computer-Aided Instruction” (ICAI). The reviewer finds this acronym unattractive since, as the reader of this text will quickly realise, the subject goes far beyond the image, of “intelligence” magically bolted on to traditional frame-based CA1 techniques, which this title conjures up. Let us then, understand this term as referring to the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to the problems (and possibilities!) of education. The book is promoted as being of interest to a wide spectrum of readers, from researchers in the areas covered to teachers and “anyone else concerned with educational innovation”. The 24 chapters in the book are divided into three sections covering general theoretical issues, techniques appropriate to certain components of an ICAI system, and accounts of the application of ICAI to specific subject areas. The whole is admirably coherent (compared with other books which consist of contributions from a wide range of authors), and the reader is led gently through the domain of AI in education. Some of the individual chapters could not be described as “gentle”, and would be very hard for a non-specialist to fully understand, but most are sufficiently well presented for any interested reader to profit from them. This book definitely does not fall into the “bed-time reading” category, but neither is it so inaccessible as to completely alienate the non-specialist. Early chapters present the potential benefits of ICAI and highlight some of the dangers of indiscriminate or poorly considered applications of the techniques. Aspects of knowledge representation, both of subject matter and of pedagogical knowledge, and of student modelling (how the computer “perceives” the user’s current state of knowledge) are presented and discussed. Two further chapters consider the question of how ICAI systems might be evaluated, both in terms of global objectives (e.g. how the system behaves) and in terms of more detailed components (e.g. how models of student behaviour might be evaluated). No consideration is given, however, to the (to my mind fundamental) issue of evaluating the educational effectiveness of ICAI systems (in terms of measuring cognitive change in students exposed to such systems). The chapters in Part 2 present in more detail particular techniques and components for ICAI systems. Different authors present their work on student modelling, on diagnosing students’ misconceptions, on developing teaching strategies and on identifying students’ goals and intentions. For more information, read the book! A final chapter in this section describes work that has been done on developing an intelligent authoring tool to aid the production of conventional educational software. The third section includes papers describing the application of ICAI to the teaching of specific subject areas-in particular, arithmetic, writing and basic electricity. These papers consist not of technical descriptions of the systems being developed, but rather of discussions about the nature of the conceptual understanding in each domain and about techniques for developing appropriate skills. Further papers present techniques for making computer interfaces easier to use and understand, and the final chapters consider the teaching of computer programming. The book finishes with a comprehensive bibliography to guide the interested reader to further relevant literature. The chapters of this book are basically independent, but the whole is well integrated and coherent. Each piece of work is presented with a review of the previous work on which is based, and the reader can see how the work of different groups of researchers fits together. As many of the chapters are describing work in progress and future directions, there is a clear sense of “looking forward” as well as an account of work completed. As the “work in progress” described dates from 1986, there is a sense of which this book was out-of-date even as it was at the printers, but this is a common problem for any book which is describing work which is “state of the art”. Nearly CAE13’_
405
Book
406
Reviews
all the systems described are still research tools; it is easy to get impatient and wonder why there are not more systems out in the field, being used by real students (of whatever age) in real learning situations; if nothing else, Artificial Intelligence and Human Learning highlights how much there is that we do not know, and how much more work there is to be done before we can expect to achieve robust, student-proof and, above all, effective ICAI systems. A. E. BLANDFORD
Institute of Educational Technology The Open University Milton Ke_ynes MK 7 6AA England The Computer Glossary: $24.95 (paperback).
ALAN FREEDMAN. Amacom,
New York,
1988. Fourth
edition,
800 pp.
The Computer Glossary is a reference book, described as a “guide to understanding ‘the language of computers’ “. It is a cross between a dictionary and an encyclopaedia, defining and describing technical terms and jargon relating to computing. This includes brief explanations of the most important concepts in computing, including diagrams where appropriate, and short technical descriptions of the most important standards, such as communications and language standards, and of the most widely used software packages such as word processors and databases. The text has a strong practical and commercial orientation. There is historical information about mainstream computing, which helps to put the current state of the subject into context. This even includes photographs of some of the “landmark” people and processors. There is adequate cross-referencing within the text, though it is inevitably difficult to find out certain information if the reader cannot work out what key-work to look up. Nearly all the acronyms and specialised terms the reviewer tried looking up could be found as long as they were “main-stream” computing terms; there is little information in this book on peripheral or specialised areas, for example customised use in fields such as manufacturing or education. This is essentially a very practical book, giving superficial information on a broad range of subjects within the general area of Computing. The descriptions are generally concise, clear and comprehensible. This is not a work to be read from cover to cover, though taking a random “dip” in it is more exciting and informative than doing the same in a conventional dictionary or the telephone directory. The Computer Glossary would be a valuable addition to the library of anyone who works with, or aspires to join the ranks of, those who speak “ROMish”-a variant of the English language which incorporates a high proportion of unnecessary technical terms and acronyms (definition local to the reviewer and her friends!). It is of little direct relevance to those involved in computer-assisted learning, computer-based training or intelligent tutoring systems, but could be a potentially useful source of information for those working with real systems in real classrooms. Similarly, it could be a potentially useful reference for students of computing. Institute of Educational Technology The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA England
A. E. BLANDFORD
1989 Copyright
0
1989 Maxwell
0360-1315/89 $3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Macmillan plc
BOOK REVIEWS Artificial Intelligence
and Human Learning: Edited by JOHN
SELF.
Chapman & Hall, London. 1988.
800 pp. E37.50 (hardback). Artzjicial Intelligence and Human Learning is a collection of papers designed to give an overview
of the subject referred to as “Intelligent Computer-Aided Instruction” (ICAI). The reviewer finds this acronym unattractive since, as the reader of this text will quickly realise, the subject goes far beyond the image, of “intelligence” magically bolted on to traditional frame-based CA1 techniques, which this title conjures up. Let us then, understand this term as referring to the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to the problems (and possibilities!) of education. The book is promoted as being of interest to a wide spectrum of readers, from researchers in the areas covered to teachers and “anyone else concerned with educational innovation”. The 24 chapters in the book are divided into three sections covering general theoretical issues, techniques appropriate to certain components of an ICAI system, and accounts of the application of ICAI to specific subject areas. The whole is admirably coherent (compared with other books which consist of contributions from a wide range of authors), and the reader is led gently through the domain of AI in education. Some of the individual chapters could not be described as “gentle”, and would be very hard for a non-specialist to fully understand, but most are sufficiently well presented for any interested reader to profit from them. This book definitely does not fall into the “bed-time reading” category, but neither is it so inaccessible as to completely alienate the non-specialist. Early chapters present the potential benefits of ICAI and highlight some of the dangers of indiscriminate or poorly considered applications of the techniques. Aspects of knowledge representation, both of subject matter and of pedagogical knowledge, and of student modelling (how the computer “perceives” the user’s current state of knowledge) are presented and discussed. Two further chapters consider the question of how ICAI systems might be evaluated, both in terms of global objectives (e.g. how the system behaves) and in terms of more detailed components (e.g. how models of student behaviour might be evaluated). No consideration is given, however, to the (to my mind fundamental) issue of evaluating the educational effectiveness of ICAI systems (in terms of measuring cognitive change in students exposed to such systems). The chapters in Part 2 present in more detail particular techniques and components for ICAI systems. Different authors present their work on student modelling, on diagnosing students’ misconceptions, on developing teaching strategies and on identifying students’ goals and intentions. For more information, read the book! A final chapter in this section describes work that has been done on developing an intelligent authoring tool to aid the production of conventional educational software. The third section includes papers describing the application of ICAI to the teaching of specific subject areas-in particular, arithmetic, writing and basic electricity. These papers consist not of technical descriptions of the systems being developed, but rather of discussions about the nature of the conceptual understanding in each domain and about techniques for developing appropriate skills. Further papers present techniques for making computer interfaces easier to use and understand, and the final chapters consider the teaching of computer programming. The book finishes with a comprehensive bibliography to guide the interested reader to further relevant literature. The chapters of this book are basically independent, but the whole is well integrated and coherent. Each piece of work is presented with a review of the previous work on which is based, and the reader can see how the work of different groups of researchers fits together. As many of the chapters are describing work in progress and future directions, there is a clear sense of “looking forward” as well as an account of work completed. As the “work in progress” described dates from 1986, there is a sense of which this book was out-of-date even as it was at the printers, but this is a common problem for any book which is describing work which is “state of the art”. Nearly CAE13’_
405
Book
406
Reviews
all the systems described are still research tools; it is easy to get impatient and wonder why there are not more systems out in the field, being used by real students (of whatever age) in real learning situations; if nothing else, Artificial Intelligence and Human Learning highlights how much there is that we do not know, and how much more work there is to be done before we can expect to achieve robust, student-proof and, above all, effective ICAI systems. A. E. BLANDFORD
Institute of Educational Technology The Open University Milton Ke_ynes MK 7 6AA England The Computer Glossary: $24.95 (paperback).
ALAN FREEDMAN. Amacom,
New York,
1988. Fourth
edition,
800 pp.
The Computer Glossary is a reference book, described as a “guide to understanding ‘the language of computers’ “. It is a cross between a dictionary and an encyclopaedia, defining and describing technical terms and jargon relating to computing. This includes brief explanations of the most important concepts in computing, including diagrams where appropriate, and short technical descriptions of the most important standards, such as communications and language standards, and of the most widely used software packages such as word processors and databases. The text has a strong practical and commercial orientation. There is historical information about mainstream computing, which helps to put the current state of the subject into context. This even includes photographs of some of the “landmark” people and processors. There is adequate cross-referencing within the text, though it is inevitably difficult to find out certain information if the reader cannot work out what key-work to look up. Nearly all the acronyms and specialised terms the reviewer tried looking up could be found as long as they were “main-stream” computing terms; there is little information in this book on peripheral or specialised areas, for example customised use in fields such as manufacturing or education. This is essentially a very practical book, giving superficial information on a broad range of subjects within the general area of Computing. The descriptions are generally concise, clear and comprehensible. This is not a work to be read from cover to cover, though taking a random “dip” in it is more exciting and informative than doing the same in a conventional dictionary or the telephone directory. The Computer Glossary would be a valuable addition to the library of anyone who works with, or aspires to join the ranks of, those who speak “ROMish”-a variant of the English language which incorporates a high proportion of unnecessary technical terms and acronyms (definition local to the reviewer and her friends!). It is of little direct relevance to those involved in computer-assisted learning, computer-based training or intelligent tutoring systems, but could be a potentially useful source of information for those working with real systems in real classrooms. Similarly, it could be a potentially useful reference for students of computing. Institute of Educational Technology The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA England
A. E. BLANDFORD