TOWARDS A CAT/CAL SOFTWARE AUTOADAPTING

TO END-USER LEARNING-STYLE

L. Mariaux*, M. Filippi, 11. Cadot, D. Muller

Centre de GQnie Electrique de Lyon - URA CNRS 829
Ecole Ceiilrale de Lyon - I31’ lG3 - 69131 ECULLY - Cedex
pliori(~: +U3 72.18.0.88 - e-~iiail:~ i ~ a r i a i ~ x , ~ ~ i ~ ~ j ~ i , ~ i i u l l e r ~ t r o ~ e k . e c - l y o ~ i . l ~

1. Abstract
AcLoIdiiig to tlic aiiii of llie COLOS project - where COLOS slaiids lor “COiicep-
lual Leariiiiig 01 Sciciicc” - wliicli is to use aiid to proiiiole llic use of tlic poleiitial ol
riiodeiii ~uiripulcrlccluiology lor ilbeller arid iiioie diiecl approach towards iiiluitive
picseiilalioii and uiicicistaiidiiig of basic coiiccpts iii scieiice aiid techiiology [I] [2],
we desciilic iii lliib paper a incttiod l o decide a studelit’s iriaiii type of category. In
aiiolliei step we explaiii iii whicli way llie liuiuaii iiitei€ace of a CA’l’/CAL (Compulei
Aided Teachiiig/Learning) product must be designed with respect t o the considered
type, that means to define a “Learning Environment ”.
We present some principles enabling to adapt the interfaces of softwares lo the user.

2. T h e driving concepts
‘l’lic ArisI,oI,cIi:i.ii way or tliiiikiiig iiscd I)y Zvoiiko Ikzariiic lo iiopiilsc 1.1i(~ COLOS
pr<J,jccl,coiihiiis t l i c ( x J ~ I w ~ of ~ , “liil.iiit,ioii”. kiiowlotlgc! Iwgiiis wi1,li S C I I -
Iliiiiiii~ii
sations arid is ;rctivo lliloiigli Iiitiiitioii. ‘Tlic Iiituilioii allows access l o llie bii.sic
priiiciplcs of cveryi,liirig.
iiic sags t h a t lltc tcaclicr creates dyriariiic displays wliicli c;i.pliirc
Iiis/licr iiiciill~i.liiiiiigcs. Jlc sags: “lJiitlol.staiitlirig is il process wliicli is coiriplclctl
wlicii (,lie ‘‘light, coiiios OH”, wlicri Ilic sliitlcii i,ys “NOW 1 gel. il” ii.ittl is :~blc: l o
s licltl wliosc soliilioii tlcp”ls oii iiii(1ershidiiig ol 1.1iiit
start rjolviiig i ~ r o l i l w ~i r i~ llic
lield.”
1.0 c w s t i t i i k i~.iidliciciit iiitiiitivc iliidacc for loariiiiig, wc waiil tlic sliitlciit to
, I

experiineiil tlic taught iiiatter in the saiiie way as Iie/she experinleiits Iiis/her own life
eriviroiiiiieiit [3], tlial iiieaiis the interrace iiiusl be designed like a life enviroiiment.
The couple “computer-student” is a system for whicli the best result is obtained
when each part of the couple is adapted to the other part.

07803-2719-5195151.00D 1995 IEEE 488

 It describes the aim and the operation of “Intuition”.
It describes the pragmatical use of “Intuition” to approach reality.
It provides a typological and psychical scale of human behavior.
It describes intra-psychical process and several ways to connect it with reality.
It explains the variability ol psychological requircnients of each student duriug
Iiis/Iicr Icwviiiig proc:css, i ~ i i c itlic vii.rinI)iiity of Irnrniiig sbylc I~rercrcllce [SI.

1 r;i.iis;icl,ioii;il A u;i.lysis l i ; ~b c ~ mtlovc~lopoclIbr ;haul Ibr1.y livc yoa.rs. 11, i s sliarcd iis
, \

well by tcacliers, psycliologists, cOlli]Jaliyinimagers... Its luiictional patterli accounts

lor different respouses to iiiessage/stitiiulati~li for each structure. ‘I‘liis iiiiplies a
diKercn1 iiitcriia.1 and exlcriial ilnplementatiori ol the resulting leariiiiig. This tlicory
tlo[iuos six persoiiality types. 1 h : h pc!rsoii uses a. set or one Iiiitiii type ii.ncl OM? or
two sccojidihry oiiw, wliicli tlcline wlial we call “Natural 1,c;Lniiiig Stylc”.

4. How to deteriiiiiie iiatural-leariiing-style

From the previous theory, we built some sets of rnessage/stiinulatioiis wliicli charac-
terize each of the six personality structures. They are designed from colors, graphics,
spatial repartition, vocabulary, syntax aiid iiitonation.
In a first step a set of six images is submitted t o the student who is requested t o
class them using the criterion of the most pleasant environment to learn in. This
test is repeated with two other sets.
In a second step, the result is controlled using a set of instructions corresponding to
the main type. The studcnt must say i l he/slie agrees with this kind of expression.
J I r e cross cliodtiiig o l tlic- rcsults gives u s llic iiiilural Iciirning stylc of the sludciit.
t ,

Figure 1: Obsessional type (left) versus Hysteric type (right)

- Examples of personality structure related images -

You must solve the problem withiii Good niorning, are you OK this
N niinutes. iiiorning?
I I IJCsplit iii X SUI,-
‘l’liis ~ ~ < J I J I C Iciiii W c l ~ ~ i i iiici tliis scssioii.
piirts. Ilcrc is w1ia.t wc ask you:
A valid;i~lioiiof Y O I I ~k~iowlcdgcwill ...
ta.lto ~I;I.cc: iil. tlic c i i t l o f I,liis scssioii. iryoll ilavc ;L l)robiclll, t~oll’tworry...
1\11 the rcclucstcd iuforiualions a.re you caii go backward aiitl succeed
iii the library. step by step quietly.
Good work! Don’t loose courage...
Figirrc 2: Obscssioiial type (I&) vcrsus lfystcric type (right)
- Examples oI persondity structure related Instructions -

489
To determine learning styles, we also use other methods which will be described in
l u l u 1c 1>i1,I><*Ih.

5. Potential applicatioiis ill the doitiaiii of CA’l‘/CAL

~ ~L ~
A s ii ~ : t ~ i i ~ ~ of l i i~aI)ovc~
i ~ ~ iitltw, ~ t l r l i i i c d six I);i..;ic ‘‘Iwuiiiig ~iivi~oiii~i(~ii1,s”
i t ~ ~wv
wriespoiidiiig lo tlic six iialural learniiig sf yles. A leamiiig eriviroriiticiit is built 01
a multi-seiisoiial iepresentatioii of tlic taught iiialter, iiicluding ius truclioiis, souiid,
~olors,col01 association, aiiiniated a i d static images, and tlicir layout on tlie scieen.
‘L’heie ale scwcial possible ways lo iJ,i)l)lyLlicse principles lor teaching willi CA’r/ChL
packages.

0 The first method consists in considering the student group as a stable family. We
perform tests to determine a reference of the mean learning style they belong to,
and we use the corresponding learning environment. This solution presents some
handicaps:
As all methods based on a statistical repartition of human behavior, it shuts
out the students who are at the margin of the group.
e Each sludent evolves during the course of his/lier studies iii a way whicli
<:iliiiioI, be forecast. l’liis iiiiplies tliat the iiieaii structure would iieed to be
~ l i d i t g c ~i lll IIiv liiiic.

Thus, this solution, eveii if it is the easiest to implement, is too restrictive to allow
optiiiiuiri, iiitlivitliidistic adal)latiori of tlir CA’l’/CAL intellace. l u additioa it is
obvious that, when a iicw evaluation of the iiieaii structure is doiie, the inlel1a;lLe
of an dieady used applicalioii iiiust not be cliaiiged because tlie iiiodilicalioii of
acquired practices can be harmful to the learuing process or individual students.

I I s frcttii (,ltv h i i i i i r h t , 1)iit appliwl iiitlivitliiitlly lo ~ a d i

ig of Iiis/licr sludies. I h c h time a sludeiil uses a CA’I‘/CAl,
sortware, his/lier origiiial clisracterizalioii would be used lo determine wliich leain-
ing environment must be generated.
Let us notice that the problem of the temporal evolution of the learning style of the
students is not managed by this method.

0 The third approach coiisisls in designing a CAT/CAL sortware which is able to

I the learning style ol tlie user at tlie bcgiiiniiig of tlie studyiiig ses-
. would tlicri iiiodify autoiii;ilically tlir used ~CilrJIiIlgciiviioiiiiicul
to atlapt it to 11ic cui ~ i l stylr
. ol the stiitloiit.
‘I’his appioacli seenis to be tlie iiiost adapted oiie to tlic iiidividual lcaiiiiiig pioiessrb.
Its iiriplcitioiitalioii also fits OUT goal ol intuitive Icaiuing. i t I I O ~oiiLy Itccps the
inental images of the teacher and traiislales tlieiii into the ineiital environiiieiil ol llie
student, but it rtiariagcs dso tlie leaiiiiilg style i d ils vaiiatioiis duriiig llic coiiise
o l a cuiiiculuiii, awoidiiig to the olliiicn( y irquiiciiicrits sliowii by (.he stucI(~iit.

6. Current state of our project

We have now CAT/CAL applications abie to use six differents interfaces according
to the learning style of the concerned student. The figure shown below illustrates
two interfaces of the same CAT/CAL application.

490
 If the sludeiit has the “Obsessioiial” type as his/her iiiaiii personality coiiipoiieiit,
Iie/she iieeds to have 011 his/her screeii the maximum of siniultaiieous inforiiiations,
hi ii. vety strttct~tr(do t g a ~ i i z a t i o ~ i ‘L’lie . givcii iiislructioiis iiiust lead Iiiui/lier 10
orgaiiizc Iiis/licr lcariiiiig time iii a veiy clliciciil wily.
111 l , l i c x S C W I I ~~ x i i i i i p l c ,tliv s~,iident,has llic “llystcric” typc as Iiis/licr tiieiii pcrsoii-
ality coti~poiieiit.llc/slic iiccds to have a iiiiiiiiiiuiii ol siiiiiiltaiicous iiiloriiialioiis on
liis/her screen, with a Diendly layout and some warm colors. Bis/lier instruetioils
inus1 conlain a kind of encouragements to incite Iiim/lier to piogress.

Figure 3: Obsessio~iaItype (lejl) versus IIysteric type (right)

- Examples of application layouts according to learning style -

7. Conclusion
Now we have applications allowing us to test the efficiency of our method on students
in a static way. T h e next step will be to produce applications which are able to adapt
their own interface t o the learning style of the student.
To realize this, we will iieed to deiiioiistrale that, iii a CAT/CAL software, the
IriLllgliI.t i i i i , I , I , ~(:ii.ii I)(! tlissociihxl frot11 tho I)I‘O(:CSS itsot1 to IORL.II
it.
I
1 . 1 1 ~litii1.l goa.l will bo IAJiiiii.ii;i,g~~
8
tlic wliol~!lwrtiiiig procoss iqipl.yitig this leiwiiitig
slylo I,IIOO~.Y to r(!iLdl tlio tiiii.xitiiittii cflic:icitc:y ol‘ tlic Aristololiati it1cii.s: “liiliiilioii”
a.tI cl “N al.ii ra.l” .

References
[I] Z.Fazarinc, “Coiiipuler siiiiulalioii ill pliysics”, IEEE Polewlials, April 1990, pp. 30-33.
[Z] 1).Muller, L. Mariaux, A. Nicolas, “A Coii~puleraided Education Environment used iii
leacliiiig llie siiiglc pliasc bridgc rcctilicr,” EAIKElE, Mullimcdia und Cumpuler Ibols:
the future f o r Engziieering, Prague, Sept. 1993, pp. 77-81.

[3] S. Papert, “Mind storms, Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas,” Basic Books, 1980.
[4] P. Ware, “Type de personnalite et plan therapeutique,” Actualite‘ e a Analyse Traiisac-
lionaelle, 1981, 4, pp264-273.
[5] C.M. O’Grady, M.J. Cuniiingham, “The effectiveness of CAL in Electrical Engineer-
ing Courses,’’ EAIEEIE, Mullitiiedia and Coinputer Tools: the future for Eiigiiiceriiig,
Prague, Sept. 1993, pi). 74-70.

491