The Army Research Institute (ARI) has developed training/instructional materials, Think Like a Commander (TLAC), for coaching command reasoning through adaptive thinking exercises using battlefield situations. Development of an accompanying intelligent tutoring system (ITS) would allow additional practice without the need for additional human mentor involvement. However, developing such a system is a challenging problem that does not fit the mold of previously successful ITSs because of the open-ended, non-procedural nature of thinking exercises and the need for language-based interactions. Our approach is to couple two technologies that have been used successfully for different aspects of the problem. The system, called Automated Tutoring Environment for Command (ATEC), is adapting the dialog management capability from AutoTutor and linking it with a cognitive model-based instructional agent that replicates the knowledge and role of the human TLAC mentor.

The ATEC system presents a battlefield situation and then initiates a dialog between a virtual mentor (instructional agent) and a student as they collaboratively discuss the situation. The virtual mentor poses questions, evaluates student responses, determines the sequence of questions, and ultimately assesses performance on the basis of the specificity of questioning and the depth of probing and hinting that is needed to adequately answer the questions. The system includes natural language extraction, speech act classification, and dialog management. This paper discusses the development of the ATEC system as part of a Phase II SBIR, including the system architecture and functional components, the methods for accomplishing each function, the analyses conducted, and the issues remaining to be addressed. Ongoing complementary efforts include a related Phase II SBIR with a different ITS approach for battle command conceptual skills, and a computer-based program developed by ARI that human instructors are using in the Armor Captains Course at Fort Knox's University of Mounted Warfare.