Abstract

An interactive instructional system realizing an eventstream based educational methodology and enabling an interactive, adaptive learning environment. Continuously tracking and evaluating learner interaction, the system creates and updates a profile of the learner's cognitive style and achievement level. Using this cognitive profile, the system adapts its presentations to the learner's cognitive style and demonstrated ability. Presentations take the form of eventstreams, which are branching sequences of multimedia objects called events. Some of the events contain substantially similar content presented in differing ways so that, using the learner's cognitive profile, the system can select the event that results in the greatest comprehension of the presented material. This selection is accomplished using a utility function that is based on the cognitive profile and that provides a measure of the teaching utility of each of the different cognitive styles. The system can adapt to the learner by updating the utility function through the use of preference relations which are determined through testing and that indicate that of the cognitive styles results in the greatest comprehension by the learner of the content contained within the presentations. The system includes an eventstream development environment which allows the content developer to use accessible libraries of events to create new eventstreams. The eventstreams are structured to follow the paradigm of observed history so that each topic can be presented in the historical context in which it developed.