AXSYS: an intelligent system for e‐learning

The paper seeks to explore the issues surrounding the deployment of expert systems technologies in a contemporary online educational environment.

A prototype system was designed and implemented using a small knowledge base. The research was centred on two aspects of system performance: the mechanism for the acquisition of knowledge, and the quality of the dialogue generated for the end‐user as judged by the level of circuitous discourse that was encountered.

Identifies the potential benefits of creating a visual interface with graphical representations of knowledge, as an aid to non‐technical teaching staff in deploying the system without additional technical support. Confirms the problem of end‐user discourse lacking focus, but identifies a potential solution arising from an emergent property of the visual interface.

As a pilot study it is confined to focusing on just two aspects of such intelligent systems in academia. The research notes, but does not explore, the potential offered by consulting diverse online resources automatically. It also does not consider the pedagogic aspects of curriculum‐oriented knowledge‐based systems.

The research suggests that, with appropriate modifications to system input and output characteristics, the expert system paradigm has a potential role as an online tool for e‐learning.

This is a large area for research in which little contemporary work appears to be taking place. Presents the possibility of introducing intelligent systems into e‐learning roles.