Requirements analysis of Multi-Agent Based Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Abstract

Requirements analysis of Multi-Agent Based Intelligent Tutoring Systems The agent oriented software engineering research proposes general assumptions for agent oriented software development, while intelligent tutoring system (ITS) research proposes specific ITS architecture and other specific knowledge for ITS development. Both of these views should be taken into consideration while developing multi-agent based ITSs. Thus there is a need for specific approaches for all phases of agent based ITS development which take into consideration main ideas from both agent oriented software engineering and ITS research. In this paper we propose a requirements analysis approach for multi-agent based ITSs. A case study of a simple ITS is included, too. Requirements analysis in the proposed approach consist of two main steps, namely goal modelling and use case modelling. During the goal modelling the main goals of the system are identified and a goal hierarchy for the system is created. During the use case modelling use cases needed to achieve each lower level goal and their descriptions are created. The proposed approach of the requirements analysis is intended to be a part of the full life cycle methodology for multi-agent based ITS development. The developed use case model (especially use case scenarios) is used during the agent interaction design and task definition. Goal hierarchy during the design phase is mainly used for checking, if the results of design achieve all system's goals.