TOWARD USER MODELS FOR INTELLIGENT COMPUTER-ASSISTED-LEARNING - AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY

A methodology was established that made it possible to observe student s interacting with a highly unconstrained computer-based learning syst em. The system was unconstrained in that it was not subject to the lim itations of current computer-based technology. Thirty volunteer postgr aduate librarianship students learned about PRECIS indexing, using a s pecially designed learning system that could respond as flexibly and i ntelligently as a human expert to natural language queries about the s ubject matter. Interactions were logged and analyzed. The evidence obt ained supports the notion that individuals employ distinct strategies when interacting with information sources in a learning context. The s trategies observed in the present study display close similarities wit h styles and strategies previously found by other researchers using mo re constrained methodologies.