Abstract

E-learning is becoming more and more popular with the widespread use of computers and the Internet in educational institutions. Current e-learning courses are nearly always developed using course management systems (CMS), such as WebCT or Blackboard. Although CMS tools provide support for some administrative tasks and enable instructors to provide online instructional material, they offer no deep support for learning: students have access to online material, simple multi-choice quizzes, and chat tools, but there is no ability to track student's progress and adapt the learning material and instructional session to the individual student. In this article we present our experiences with three web-based intelligent tutoring systems in the area of databases. SQL-Tutor teaches the SQL query language, NORMIT is a data normalization tutor, and KERMIT teaches conceptual database modelling using the Entity-Relationship data model. All three tutors in DB-suite have been used and evaluated in the context of genuine teaching activities. We present the most important features of these systems, as well as evaluation results. The DB-suite tutors have proved to be very effective in supporting deep learning, and are well liked by students.

Citation

Mitrovic, A., Suraweera, P., Martin, B. & Weerasinghe, A. (2004). DB-Suite: Experiences with Three Intelligent, Web-Based Database Tutors. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 15(4), 409-432. Norfolk, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved May 22, 2022 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/18899/.

© 2004 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

Keywords

• artificial intelligence
• course management system
• Databases
• e-learning courses
• Instructional Materials
• Learning Management Systems
• Students
• Tutoring