The intelligent authoring of computer assisted learning software

Abstract: The article summarises the results of a five year research programme aimed at the creation and development of a prototype ‘intelligent authoring system’(IAS)—that is. a system for authoring software that stimulates the skills and knowledge of a conventional Computer Assisted Learning authoring team, thus allowing a computer‐naive author to create a working program interactively without the need for human assistance. We argue that a knowledge representation in the form of ‘event schema’ or 'script’ for each of the common types of educational software is ideally suited to meeting our five main criteria for IAS development, and present a brief of overview of the SCALD’(Scriptal CAL Designer) prototype IAS. The current version of the system is implemented in Prolog on an Apple Macintosh micro, and is capable of creating a range of educational programs of either ‘an instructional’ type or a 'science demonstration’ type. We believe that scripts could be produced fairly easily for most other types of program design and are currently working on a hybrid ‘instructional‐demonstration’ script and an ‘adventure‐game’ script. The main strengths and weaknesses of the Scald system are discussed, and suggestions made for further developments.