Summary: In this tutorial, we will showcase the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT). GIFT is an open-source, community-driven, service-oriented platform for the creation, delivery, and analysis of computer-based tutoring. The tutorial will provide participants with hands-on experience using GIFT functions that support research and implementation of personalized learning experiences. Specifically, GIFT’s adaptive course flow features will be reviewed and demonstrated, with considerable hands-on time spent developing GIFT lessons and gaining familiarity with GIFT tools and authoring workflows.

Intended Audience: This tutorial is broadly relevant to researchers interested in the design, development, and evaluation of adaptive learning technologies in the AIED and Learning Sciences communities. The tutorial will serve three primary functions. First, the tutorial will showcase recent developments in authoring and modeling functions supported by GIFT for building adaptive lesson materials. Second, it will introduce attendees to ongoing efforts to develop and extend GIFT’s instructional capabilities, such as data-driven pedagogical models induced using reinforcement learning techniques. Third, the tutorial will provide an open forum for discussion on the future direction of GIFT development, as well as how the community can influence future undertakings. There are no prerequisites for successful participation in the tutorial, but there will be recommended readings prior to attendance, which will aid participants in better understanding the goals and motivation behind the GIFT project. In addition, each attendee will require an account on the GIFT website for access to the cloud version of the software. Participants will be provided with instructional content in the domain of human anatomy that will be used to build a GIFT adaptive lesson.

Expected Outcomes: Participants are expected to leave the tutorial with a deeper understanding of GIFT, including its capabilities, tools, and architecture. By the end, each attendee will have a registered account on https://gifttutoring.org, which provides access to the online cloud-based version of GIFT as well as source-code access. All participants will have created a complete lesson that showcases the adaptive instruction, assessment, and remediation capabilities of GIFT. This lesson will serve as an exemplar from which participants can develop their own adaptive learning experiences in the future. Participants will be connected to the broader GIFT community through their introduction to the website, forums, and online resources. In addition, all participants will leave with an understanding of how GIFT can be modified/extended to support their own research interest.

To Get Started: To get started, please visit https://gifttutoring.org to learn more about the GIFT Project and to create an account for access to the cloud version of the software. Once registered, you will have access to all GIFT-related publications (under the 'Documents' tab) and GIFT Cloud (press 'Launch GIFT Cloud' icon from homepage).

Please stay tuned as more details and information on the event will be provided as the conference approaches. Specific recommended read-ahead documents and slide-shows will be provided prior to the event as introductory material to familiarize attendees with the tools that will be demonstrated and the concepts that will be instructed.

If there are any questions, please reach out directly to the organizer: Benjamin Goldberg (Benjamin.s.goldberg.civ@mail.mil)

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...

One of the requirements from the last GIFTSym was that GIFT should have a number of tutorial videos explaining its background and operation. In an effort to address these, we intend on posting a number of videos over the next 12 months. The first 3 are now live, on the subjects of:
GIFT Authoring Introduction - https://youtu.be/nGywC-jf0Mk
About GIFT (for Civilians) - https://youtu.be/68kagItNYz8
About GIFT (for Military) - https://youtu.be/ZyaxZ4bKss4

Future videos will be posted to the same channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWtI_V8f2mN5XD6h2lCjsAA).

Enjoy!

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.