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Off-Task Behavior in the Cognitive Tutor Classroom: When Students "Game the System"

Item

Title
Off-Task Behavior in the Cognitive Tutor Classroom: When Students "Game the System"
Abstract/Description
We investigate the prevalence and learning impact of different types of off-task behavior in classrooms where students are using intelligent tutoring software. We find that within the classrooms studied, no other type of off-task behavior is associated nearly so strongly with reduced learning as "gaming the system": behavior aimed at obtaining correct answers and advancing within the tutoring curriculum by systematically taking advantage of regularities in the software's feedback and help. A student's frequency of gaming the system correlates as strongly to post-test score as the student's prior domain knowledge and general academic achievement. Controlling for prior domain knowledge, students who frequently game the system score substantially lower on a post-test than students who never game the system. Analysis of students who choose to game the system suggests that learned helplessness or performance orientation might be better accounts for why students choose this behavior than lack of interest in the material. This analysis will inform the future re-design of tutors to respond appropriately when students game the system.
Author/creator
Baker, Ryan S. J. d.
Corbett, Albert T.
Koedinger, Kenneth R.
Wagner, Angela Z.
Date
2004
In publication
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Series
CHI '04
Pages
383–390
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery
Resource type
en Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form
en Published Text
Scholarship genre
en Empirical
Keywords
field research methods
intelligent tutoring systems
off-task behavior
user modeling
Open access/full-text available
en Yes
Peer reviewed
en No
ISBN
978-1-58113-702-6
DOI
10.1145/985692.985741
URL
Official Publisher's Webpage (ACM Digital Library)
Full-text PDF Shared by Author (ResearchGate)
Citation
Baker, R. S., Corbett, A. T., Koedinger, K. R., & Wagner, A. Z. (2004). Off-Task Behavior in the Cognitive Tutor Classroom: When Students “Game the System.” Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 383–390. https://doi.org/10.1145/985692.985741
Place
New York, NY, USA
Item sets
Handbook Chapter 20 Citations

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