History of automated adaptive instruction in computer applications

Within the field of human-computer interaction there has long been interest in developing adaptive automated instruction software to facilitate learning of application programs. This software would monitor a computer user's behavior while he or she uses the application program, and then provide optimized and personalized instruction to help the user become more skilled with the application. This form of instruction could be performed by a stand-alone tutoring application, or it could be carried out by special routines built into the application program itself (as with the Microsoft Office Assistant discussed below). Note that the history of adaptive learning approaches to education in general, some of which is summarized in the Wikipedia articles on spaced repetition and electronic learning, lies beyond the scope of this entry.

Chronology of developments in the field

A variety of different strategies for automated instruction in computer applications have been discussed and tried over a period of at least 25 years, although at present the technology does not appear to enjoy very wide application. Some of the notable developments in this field are listed here:

Journals covering this field

User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction (Springer, Netherlands)

References

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