CS 565 - User Modeling
Fall 2022
Professor Neil T. Heffernan and Ethan Prihar
The papers we read in old class are different tabs in that sheet.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
User modeling is a cross-disciplinary research field that attempts to construct models of human behavior within a specific computer environment. Contrary to traditional artificial intelligence research, the goal is not to imitate human behavior as such, but to make the machine able to understand the expectations, goals, knowledge, information needs, and desires of a user in terms of a specific computing environment. The computer representation of this information about a user is called a user model, and systems that construct and utilize such models are called user modeling systems.
In this class, students will read seminal papers in the user modeling literature, as well as complete a course project that apply user modeling techniques.
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CLASS MEETINGS:
Mondays & Thursdays, 4:00pm - 5:20 pm
UH 405 (or online at tiny.cc/zoomwithneil)
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CLASS MAILING LISTS:
This class requires a Google account as we will use Google Docs for handing in all assignments. Please send your google account information to akao@wpi.edu.
Please check your email at least once a day for updates.
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INSTRUCTORS:
Professor: Neil T. Heffernan
Email: nth@wpi.edu
Phone #: (508) 831-5569
Office: Unity Hall 388
Notes:
I check email once a day, so don't expect an instantaneous response before a deadline.
Don't send me email via Canvas! I won't see it!
Angela Kao (akao@wpi.edu) is someone you can email to make an appointment with me.
Assistant Instructor: Ethan Prihar
Contact: ebprihar@wpi.edu
Appointment Scheduling: Email me using the above email.
Office: Unity Hall 320
Notes:
I'm usually in UH 320 from 10-4 each day, feel free to stop by.
Bang on the glass if you can't get into UH 320, my desk is obscured by the dividers.
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CHEATING POLICY:
You can talk about programming assignments together, but not share code. This should be crystal clear. If in doubt, ask me.
Your final grade will reflect your own work and achievements during the course. Any type of cheating will be penalized with an F grade for the course and will be reported to the WPI Judicial Board in accordance with the Academic Honesty Policy.
DISCUSSION BOARD POSTS
This class is a upper level graduate seminar to prepare you to make a scientific contribution to the intelligent tutoring research community. As such, you will be required to read a great deal of material to give you the needed background.
The paper are release one week ahead of time.
Students will be required to submit at a response by 3pm the day of class.
These posts can be about
1) a question you had about the reading, something important you did not understand
2) an idea inspired by the reading
3) an interesting connection with something you learned or did previously in this or another course, or in other professional work or research
4) an on-topic, relevant response, clarification, or further comment on another student’s post
You are required to review other students’ post and are encouraged to respond to/ answer other student’s discussions. I will use these questions as starting points for discussion.
In class, students will be randomly selected to answers others students questions and or asked to summarize a paper. If you have not done the reading you should email me privately ahead of time to avoid being put on the spot and making a fool of yourself.
GRADES:
10% Group Quizzes
15% Discussion Board Posts and Responses
15% Individual Project
20% Final Exam
40% Final Project
You can not pass the class if you can not pass the final, so please do the readings.
Here is a talk I gave on Educational Data Mining, which you can watch to familiarize yourself with the subject matter of the class.
Below is a screenshot of my online class on zoom on March 19, 2020 with the speaker Adam Sales (2nd row down, 4th column talking) answering questions from my students! It was great!
