Interacting with Inspectable Bayesian Student Models
In IJAIED
14 (2)
Publication information
Abstract
Inspectable student models focus on the idea of letting students and teachers interact
with the representation of the student that the system maintains. Both humans and the system can
benefit from this interaction. By externalizing the student model and making it an object for
inspection, several representational and interaction issues arise. This paper presents ViSMod
(Visualization of Bayesian Student Models) an integrated tool to visualize and inspect distributed
Bayesian student models. Using ViSMod, students and teachers can understand, explore, inspect,
and modify Bayesian student models. ViSMod offers a practical tool that helps students and
teachers to engage in negotiated assessment processes. Student models in ViSMod follow the
Bayesian belief net backbone structure proposed by Reye (1996), which describes both cognitive
and social aspects of the student. In addition, we report on a usability study of the ViSMod tool
and an exploratory study focused on the effects of employing various levels of guidance and
support in the way students interact with inspectable Bayesian student models.
