Logic programming applications in educational environments

A dramatic increase in the number of people wishing to obtain higher education via distance education has resulted in the need for advancements in asynchronous learner support tools. Students that use distance delivery systems typically work asynchronously, meaning that they have little or no interaction with the instructional team and tend to progress through the course material at their own pace. During the learning process students face many challenges which in a typical classroom they could approach a fellow student or the instructor to resolve. In distance delivery systems, there must be support mechanisms that assist the student through the challenging areas.; This thesis presents The Logic Programming in Education for Asynchronous Learning Environment (LPed ALE) which is an integration of logic programming technologies, providing reasoning capabilities, into a Java-based delivery system. Through the use of multi-agent technologies, software agents have been implemented to provide automated, asynchronous learner-based tools. The tools that are provided include a natural language interface, communication mechanisms, question-answer interactions, resource indexing and searching, tutor assistance and quizzing mechanisms.; The research for this thesis has resulted in three significant contributions. The first is the development of asynchronous learning support in distance education delivery systems, via the construction of LPed ALE. A second contribution has been the realization of a multi-agent system architecture for educational environments. This architecture examines the approach needed for integrating agent technologies within a standard application development. This has also led to the third contribution which is the creation of a methodology for developing multi-agent systems for educational environments. This methodology identifies modifications to the traditional software development approaches required to incorporate software went specification, design, implementation and testing.