The Open-Response Chemistry Cognitive Assistance Tutor System: Development and Implementation

This report showcases a new type of online homework system that provides students with a free-form interface and dynamic feedback. The ORCCA Tutor (Open-Response Chemistry Cognitive Assistance Tutor) is a production rules-based online tutoring system utilizing the Cognitive Tutoring Authoring Tools (CTAT) developed by Carnegie Mellon University. In this report, we discuss the interface design and the production rules that allow for a multitude of chemistry calculations to be solved in a wide variety of ways by students. We discuss improvements of the software, already implemented or planned for the future, based on think aloud/interviews with students.