A Web-based Tutoring System with Styles-matching Strategy for Learning Spatial Geometry

Abstract

How to incorporate instructional strategies in computer-assisted learning systems in a systematic manner has been a major research topic in recent years. In this paper, a style-matching strategy that attempts to match learning materials’ styles to learners’ latent traits is proposed and realized in a Web-based tutoring system, called CooTutor. The mechanism of adaptive material selection takes learners’ different spatial ability and learning styles into account, and performs traits-based personalization of learning experience. This system is specifically designed to conquer the difficulty of tutoring the topic on fundamental spatial geometry in the curriculums of engineering education. By conducting empirical evaluation with a small group of students, we observe that this adaptive mechanism can prevent potentially harmful scenario of styles-mismatching for learners with extreme learning styles. Suggestions from the empirical evaluations and the analysis of effect sizes are also presented in this paper as implications for further studies.