Empirical analysis for the design of a WWW knowledge-based authoring tool

Authoring tools for intelligent tutoring system (ITSs) are meant to provide environments where instructors may author their own ITSs in varying domains. In this way, painful constructions of ITSs, which are not reusable, my be avoided. However, the construction of an authoring tool is associated with many problems, such as the generality of the techniques incorporated, domain-independence, effectiveness for the prospective authors (instructors), and effectiveness for the students who will use the resulting ITSs. We report on an empirical study that we conducted in order to design and develop WEAR, an ITS authoring tool for algebra-related domains operating over the Web. We investigated several aspects concerning the attitude and behaviour of both students and instructors. We also considered aspects relating to the fact that WEAR would be operating over the Web. The study revealed important issues and was then used for the specification of the design of WEAR. A brief description of the developed system is also included in the paper so that the way that the design specification were put late practice may be shown.