TEx-Sys: an authoring tool for an intelligent tutoring system with hypermedia

The integration of hypermedia and an intelligent tutoring system in a newly developed authoring tool TEx-Sys (Tutor-Expert System) is presented. The student explores cyberspace which is defined as domain knowledge like a cybernaut and acquires skills and knowledge. The TEx-Sys system is modularly structured and consists of a logic model, a tutor shell, a communication module in quasi-natural language, a questioning module and an evaluation module. Knowledge is represented by semantic networks with frame and production rules. Semantic networks apply different semantic entities and relations: nodes, links, properties, frames, property inheritance with inference engine, as well as multimedia and hypertext. The hypermedia with a rich attribute structure made by integration of multimedia and hypertext is associated with the objects in the knowledge-base. TEx-Sys is structured in a way which enables "guided free play" in accordance with the Piagetian paradigm of learning, student modelling and efficient control of the learning process.