Bastiaan Heeren

Date: 16:00 – 16:30, Thursday, 17.12.2020
Location: Teams ICS Colloquium

Title: Software technology for automated feedback generation
Abstract: Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) that offer well-designed feedback have the potential to enhance education in many problem domains. However, the cost of developing such systems is known to be high, with an estimated 200 hours of development for one hour of practice. The Ideas research project aims at simplifying ITS construction by using software technology for automated feedback generation. Examples of such techniques are embedded domain-specific languages, combinators and their algebraic laws, (datatype-)generic programming, and rewriting. Over the past 14 years, our approach has been tested on many problem domains, and has supported the exploration of new feedback opportunities.
In this presentation, I will explain two techniques: the embedding of light-weight rewrite rules in problem-solving procedures, and the use of generic traversals for controlling rule application. The techniques will be illustrated by a simple problem-solving procedure for rewriting propositions into negation normal form.