Considerations for Immersive Learning in Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Research has examined the benefits and retractors of immersing the learner in an environment. Immersive computer-based training environments are costly to construct and may not always lead to significant learning or transfer benefits over other methods. The current paper presents a brief review of presence and immersion research in computer-based learning and adaptive tutoring. The Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT) is an open source domain-independent framework for creating intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). GIFT offers flexibility, and can be interfaced with training applications ranging from highly immersive computer-based learning environments (e.g., TC3Sim, VBS2) to less immersive mediums such as PowerPoint. The capabilities of GIFT that can be used to create immersive adaptive tutoring are discussed. Additionally, the use of GIFT to run and generate experimental studies to examine the impact of immersion is highlighted. Finally, recommendations are given on how to provide more opportunities to integrate immersive environments into GIFT.