Abstract:
We propose a method of generating teaching policies for use in intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) for concept learning tasks [1] , e.g., teaching students the meanings of...Show MoreMetadata
Abstract:
We propose a method of generating teaching policies for use in intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) for concept learning tasks [1] , e.g., teaching students the meanings of words by showing images that exemplify their meanings la Rosetta Stone [2] and Duo Lingo [3] . The approach is grounded in control theory and capitalizes on recent work by [4] , [5] that frames the teaching problem as that of finding approximately optimal teaching policies for approximately optimal learners (AOTAOL). Our work expands on [4] , [5] in several ways: (1) We develop a novel student model in which the teacher's actions can partially eliminate hypotheses about the curriculum. (2) With our student model, inference can be conducted analytically rather than numerically, thus allowing computationally efficient planning to optimize learning. (3) We develop a reinforcement learning-based hierarchical control technique that allows the teaching policy to search through deeper learning trajectories. We demonstrate our approach in a novel ITS for foreign language learning similar to Rosetta Stone and show that the automatically generated AOTAOL teaching policy performs favorably compared to two hand-crafted teaching policies.
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies ( Volume: 11, Issue: 2, 01 April-June 2018)

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, US
Jacob Whitehill received the BS degree from Stanford, the MSc degree
from the University of the Western Cape, and the PhD from the University of California, San Diego. He is an assistant
professor in the Computer Science Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His research interests include
machine learning, computer vision, human behavior recognition, and education. In 2012, he co-founded Em...Show More
Jacob Whitehill received the BS degree from Stanford, the MSc degree
from the University of the Western Cape, and the PhD from the University of California, San Diego. He is an assistant
professor in the Computer Science Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His research interests include
machine learning, computer vision, human behavior recognition, and education. In 2012, he co-founded Em...View more

University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, US
Javier Movellan received the PhD degree from UC Berkeley. He is a
research professor with UCSD, where he founded the Machine Perception Laboratory. His research interests include
machine learning, machine perception, automatic analysis of human behavior, and social robots. Prior to his UCSD
position, he was a Fulbright scholar with UC Berkeley. In 2012, he founded and became lead researcher at Emotient.
Javier Movellan received the PhD degree from UC Berkeley. He is a
research professor with UCSD, where he founded the Machine Perception Laboratory. His research interests include
machine learning, machine perception, automatic analysis of human behavior, and social robots. Prior to his UCSD
position, he was a Fulbright scholar with UC Berkeley. In 2012, he founded and became lead researcher at Emotient.View more

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, US
Jacob Whitehill received the BS degree from Stanford, the MSc degree
from the University of the Western Cape, and the PhD from the University of California, San Diego. He is an assistant
professor in the Computer Science Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His research interests include
machine learning, computer vision, human behavior recognition, and education. In 2012, he co-founded Emotient, a
startup company for automatic emotion recognition.
Jacob Whitehill received the BS degree from Stanford, the MSc degree
from the University of the Western Cape, and the PhD from the University of California, San Diego. He is an assistant
professor in the Computer Science Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His research interests include
machine learning, computer vision, human behavior recognition, and education. In 2012, he co-founded Emotient, a
startup company for automatic emotion recognition.View more

University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, US
Javier Movellan received the PhD degree from UC Berkeley. He is a
research professor with UCSD, where he founded the Machine Perception Laboratory. His research interests include
machine learning, machine perception, automatic analysis of human behavior, and social robots. Prior to his UCSD
position, he was a Fulbright scholar with UC Berkeley. In 2012, he founded and became lead researcher at Emotient.
Javier Movellan received the PhD degree from UC Berkeley. He is a
research professor with UCSD, where he founded the Machine Perception Laboratory. His research interests include
machine learning, machine perception, automatic analysis of human behavior, and social robots. Prior to his UCSD
position, he was a Fulbright scholar with UC Berkeley. In 2012, he founded and became lead researcher at Emotient.View more