This is an EXPERIMENTAL release that can be downloaded on the Downloads page of gifttutoring.org. These changes are also available to you on GIFT Cloud (cloud.gifttutoring.org).
Here are some of the changes in this release:
1) We now support the iCAP (Interactive/Constructive/Active/Passive) instructional design model via a new course object. This supports a new area of instruction - remediation. Items placed in the remediation area will be chosen first by the instructional engine - before alternative content. In this instructional model, only one piece of content is chosen before retesting (as opposed to the traditional EMAP model where a Rules AND Example area content could be chosen).
2) This release includes an update to the newest version of VBS (VBS3 v3.9.2).
3) Minor upgrades, bug fixes, interface changes, faster course validation, etc.
For more information refer to the release notes at https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/wiki/Release_Notes_2018-1#Interim-Release-2017-12-22 or start a discussion on the GIFT forums at https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/boards.
The Learning Technologies Steering Committee (LTSC) under the auspices of the IEEE Computer Society has formed a 6-month Standards Study Group to investigate the possible market need for standards across a group of technologies collectively known as Adaptive Instructional Systems (AIS). AIS include Intelligent Tutoring Systems and other related learning technologies that are of interest to the AAAI and AIED societies as well as other technical societies.
Standards can have an impact an enabler for streamlining and innovating processes, decreasing waste and development costs, increasing the efficiency of research and development, reducing adopters’ risks and integration costs, lowering barriers to entry for innovative products, improving interoperability and reuse, expanding markets, and supporting the development of new technologies and products.
The point of contact for the AIS study group is Dr. Bob Sottilare at the US Army Research Laboratory. If you have interest in contributing to this study group or just want to keep informed about AIS standards progress, Dr. Sottilare recommends you sign up to become a member of the Center for Adaptive Instructional Sciences (CAIS) at https://instructionalsciences.org. The CAIS website will be used to poll communities of interest like AIED about AIS problems and standards approaches, inform members about upcoming AIS events, publish opportunities to influence standards, share standards information, and report progress. We are looking forward to working closely with various societies and its members to enhance the presence, usability and effect of AIS in the world.
The US Army Research Laboratory chartered the formation of a Center for Adaptive Instructional Sciences (CAIS) this year under its Open Campus initiative and invites you to join at: https://instructionalsciences.org.
CAIS is an international center open to government, academia and industry participants. The intent is to use CAIS as a community of practice and sounding board to identify needed research, standards, and best practices for Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- AI and Machine Learning for ITSs
- Assessment Methods
- Authoring Tools
- Domain Modeling
- Individual Learner Modeling
- Instructional Management
- ITS Architecture and Ontology
- Team Modeling
COLLABORATIVE FOCUS¶
CAIS is focused on identifying and leveraging talent, facilities, and resources across government, industry, and academia to conduct transformative adaptive instructional science which enhances capabilities in three broad areas:
- Authoring tools for Adaptive Instructional Systems
- Instructional Management (tailoring & delivery)
- Evaluation tools and methods (effect size)
BENEFITS¶
- Collaborative work with CAIS partners
- Shared data, technology, and activities related to the Learning in Intelligent Tutoring Environments (LITE) Laboratory
- Facilitation in formalizing collaborative relationships and defining intellectual property issues
- Participation in strategic and technical discussion through targeted workshops and open formats
- Opportunity to significantly impact the technical projects and management of the CAIS
STEERING BOARD¶
A steering board will be elected from the CAIS membership this December so join now!
The "GIFT Server" is located in Orlando, Florida. While GIFT Cloud is available online (hosted by AWS), GIFTTutoring.org is locally hosted. Hurricane Irma is scheduled to hit Orlando over the course of the weekend, and sometime on Friday the GIFT server will be shut down. This will affect:
- This site (gifttutoring.org), bug tracking, ticketing, forums, etc.
- GIFT Cloud (which uses gifttutoring.org for authentication)
- GIFT Cloud DEV (the development server where things are tested before production)
- GIFT SVN (code development repository)
- Other hosted services (AutoTutor Script Authoring, etc.).
This outage is precautionary, and is anticipated to last only for the duration of the storm.
Users who need continuous access to GIFT during this time period are encouraged to download and use the offline version of GIFT located in the 'Downloads' tab (https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/files), now, if you have not already.
Minor corrections (no impact on content) were made to Volume 5 and uploaded to https://gifttutoring.org/documents/120 as an "errata corrected version". The previous version has been taken down from the site.
The long awaited fifth book in the adaptive tutoring series, "Design Recommendations for Intelligent Tutoring Systems - Volume 5 - Assessment Methods" is now available under the documents tab.
Volume 5 is now available free in pdf format. This book is a collaboration between ARL, the University of Memphis, and scores of government, industry, and academic partners to provide a ready reference for researchers and ITS developers. Download it now at https://gifttutoring.org/documents/120.
GIFT 2017-1 is now available for download on the GIFT Portal at http://gifttutoring.org
Download GIFT 2017-1 directly here: https://gifttutoring.org/projects/gift/files
Free GIFT Account registration required to download GIFT; GIFT is available at no cost
This release features the developmental code update to what has been running on GIFT Cloud for the last number of months. A new GIFT Cloud will be deployed tomorrow morning with minimal downtime. This release features:
- Unity application – and developmental instructions on how to build and upload your own Unity WebGL application.
- EdX and LTI integration
- New courses on Anatomy and Science
- Microsoft Band Sensor
- Ability to Preview Courses during authoring
- Ability to Copy courses
- Import of surveys from Qualtrics
- Improved authoring experience for Conversation Trees
- and more...
Hi... the proceedings book has not yet completed review, but we have placed all of the papers and the presentations that were available in the document tab. Happy downloading.
Tomorrow, April 28th at 0800 eastern time, Cloud GIFT will be migrating to a more capable server, as well as fixing a number of bugs reported on the forum and elsewhere. This migration is expected to take 2 hours, during which the service will be unavailable. The website, forums, downloads, and other GIFT services will be available during this time.
