Detecting Student Intent for Chat-Based Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Cutler, Ella, Levonian, Zachary, Christie, S. Thomas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Cutler, Ella
Levonian, Zachary
Christie, S. Thomas
author_facet Cutler, Ella
Levonian, Zachary
Christie, S. Thomas
contents Chat interfaces for intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) enable interactivity and flexibility. However, when students interact with chat interfaces, they expect dialogue-driven navigation from the system and can express frustration and disinterest if this is not provided. Intent detection systems help students navigate within an ITS, but detecting students' intent during open-ended dialogue is challenging. We designed an intent detection system in a chatbot ITS, classifying a student's intent between continuing the current lesson or switching to a new lesson. We explore the utility of four machine learning approaches for this task - including both conventional classification approaches and fine-tuned large language models - finding that using an intent classifier introduces trade-offs around implementation cost, accuracy, and prediction time. We argue that implementing intent detection in chat interfaces can reduce frustration and support student learning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_15096
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Detecting Student Intent for Chat-Based Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Cutler, Ella
Levonian, Zachary
Christie, S. Thomas
Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
K.3.1; H.1.2
Chat interfaces for intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) enable interactivity and flexibility. However, when students interact with chat interfaces, they expect dialogue-driven navigation from the system and can express frustration and disinterest if this is not provided. Intent detection systems help students navigate within an ITS, but detecting students' intent during open-ended dialogue is challenging. We designed an intent detection system in a chatbot ITS, classifying a student's intent between continuing the current lesson or switching to a new lesson. We explore the utility of four machine learning approaches for this task - including both conventional classification approaches and fine-tuned large language models - finding that using an intent classifier introduces trade-offs around implementation cost, accuracy, and prediction time. We argue that implementing intent detection in chat interfaces can reduce frustration and support student learning.
title Detecting Student Intent for Chat-Based Intelligent Tutoring Systems
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computers and Society
K.3.1; H.1.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.15096