The Design and Implementation of an Enculturated Web-Based Intelligent Tutoring System for Computer Science Education

Accommodating for learner diversity based on cultural backgrounds has not yet been a major personalisation focus until recently. Increasing numbers of Internet-ready devices have propelled e-Learning forward such that these deficiencies in cultural-awareness can no longer remain unattended. Despite being investigated from an instructional design standpoint, the enculturation of digital learning environments has largely been theorized, necessitating manual enculturation by experts, instructors and even students. Consequently, enculturated learning environments are limited in practice. In this paper, a preliminary design for building a web-based Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) is described together with the features and intended functionality of the various components. This work contributes a practical approach that was implemented and evaluated using two concrete systems within the domain of Computer Science education. An analysis of the findings and empirical evidence reported in the study supports the viability of the approach taken and reveals that intelligent tutoring systems benefit from enculturation.