Intelligent coached apprenticeship systems: Experience from the Sherlock project

Sherlock II is a coached practice environment developed to train avionics technicians to troubleshoot a complex electronic testing device. Sherlock presents students with a series of problems of increasing complexity. Sherlock´s expertise is represented in an object-oriented model of the test station. Sherlock treats learning as a human activity performed alone, or at most with a tutor. A preliminary scheme that demonstrates the possibilities for collaborative activity using Sherlock II is considered. The nature of the task (problem-solving or review) and who the collaborators are (a student and the computerized tutor; or, a group of students) provide two dimensions along which to categorize the collaborative activities to be incorporated within Sherlock II