A Collaborative Constraint-based Intelligent System for Learning Object-Oriented Analysis and Design using UML

Abstract

Automatic analysis of interaction and support for group learning through a distance collaborative learning system is at the forefront of educational technology. Research shows that collaborative leaming provides an environment to enrich the leaming process by introducing interactive partners into an educational system and creating more realistic social contexts. This paper presents COtttCl-Ogtll, a constraint-based ITS that teaches object-oriented design using Unified Modelling Language (UML). UML is easily the most popular objectoriented modelling technology in current practice. Constraint-Based Modelling (CBM) has been used successfully in several tutoring systems, which have proven to be extremely effective in evaluations performed in real classrooms. We have developed a single-user version that supports students in learning UML class diagrams. The system was evaluated in a real classroom, and the results showed that students' performance increased significantly while interacting with the system. We are now extending the system to provide supporl for collaboration. An overview of both single-user and collaborative versions of the system is presented. A full evaluation study has been planned lor April 2006, the goal of which is to evaluate the effect of using the system on students' leaming and collaboration.