Intelligent Tutoring System in GE3D Virtual Campus

Nowadays, improving the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources from home or workplace is the great challenge of e-learning. LMSs (Learning Management Systems) are quite ubiquitous and choosing one is difficult. These LMSs often share the same features: lacking in ergonomics or being only used as documents repositories [1]. As a consequence, learners and teachers use those tools, what’s worse, students might give up. Following a social-constructivist approach to learning and the expectations of the students and teachers, we realized a 3D virtual campus (GE3D) [2]. This virtual world frames efficient new media for collaborative education. It allows lectures, workshops and exercises, with synchronous connections for users. The instant reactivity of this 3D site makes immediate appropriation easier for students and teachers, and thus, builds a user community with a great level of participation. The connected users can help one another by sharing their knowledge. Considering cost or hazard while using real equipments, distance learners can carry out tasks in a safe and cost-effective way in virtual environments. We describe the architecture of the ITS (Intelligent Tutoring System), which supplies additional help to learners and teachers. The client-server architecture of GE3D is standard, inexpensive, and adapted to the needs and equipment of developing countries. This article describes the use of GE3D in a common scenario for a course on PLC’s (Programmable Logical Controllers). Then, considering students’ feedbacks, we suggest to integrate learning taxonomies in the ITS engine.