The Student is Not Like Me
Speaker
Ken Koedinger
Senior Research Scientist, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
When
-
Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)
Description
Cognitive Tutor courses have proven very successful, both in terms of raising student achievement and in reaching the marketplace. But what, exactly, is a Cognitive Tutor course and what is the process for creating one? I will outline a process and give some examples from our best success case, Cognitive Tutor Algebra, which is now in use by more than 10,000 students across the country. I will also describe how we are using this process in on-going efforts to create Cognitive Tutor courses for middle school mathematics. My main message is this: To build a truly effective course (Cognitive Tutor or otherwise), you must do all you can, informally, empirically, analytically, to find out 1) what students already know and need to know and 2) where the rough spots are in the learning process. I will illustrate why we cannot achieve these goals simply intuitively, that is, I will justify why you must assume “the student is not like me”. I will describe the variety of methods we have applied to find what the student IS like including participant design, think aloud studies, difficulty factors assessments, and cognitive modeling.
Speaker's Bio
My background includes a BS in Mathematics, a MS in Computer Science, a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, and experience teaching in an urban high school. This multi-disciplinary preparation has been critical to my research goal of creating educational technologies that dramatically increase student achievement. Toward this goal, I create “cognitive models”, computer simulations of student thinking and learning, that are used to guide the design of educational materials, practices and technologies. These cognitive models provide the basis for an approach to educational technology called “Cognitive Tutors” in which we create rich problem solving environments for students to work in and provide just-in-time learning assistance much like a good human tutor does. My research has contributed new principles and techniques for the design of educational software and has produced basic cognitive science research results on the nature of mathematical thinking and learning. I currently codirect the Pittsburgh Advanced Cognitive Tutor Center and am managing teams of cognitive scientists, programmers, and teachers to create integrated learning solutions that include text materials, teacher training and Cognitive Tutors. I am a co-founder of Carnegie Learning Inc., a new company that is marketing these technology-enhanced learning solutions to schools and colleges across the country.
Speaker's Website
http://pact.cs.cmu.edu/koedinger.html