Applying an online game-based formative assessment in a flowchart-based intelligent tutoring system for improving problem-solving skills

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) have been producing consistent learning gains for decades. However, a common problem with these systems is maintaining student engagement without reducing the learning benefits. In order to balance the learning benefits of ITSs with the motivational benefits of games, an online formative assessment game called tic-tac-toe quiz for single-player (TRIS-Q-SP) is incorporated in a Flowchart-based Intelligent Tutoring System (FITS), benefiting from Bayesian networks for the process of decision making, for learning computer programming. This assessment game combines tic-tac-toe with online assessment, and revises the rule of tic-tac-toe for stimulating students to use online formative assessment actively. Finally, an empirical investigation carried out to evaluate the performance of FITS indicating that considerable gains for the experimental group over the control group. The proposed system extensively enhanced students’ learning interest, attitude and degree of technology acceptance, as well as improved their achievements in problem solving activities. Additionally, the findings also reveal that providing Immediate Elaborated Feedback (IEF) for each answered question in TRIS-Q-SP is the optimal design, as it facilitated the enhancement of programming knowledge acquisition when comparing it with the No Immediate Elaborated Feedback (NIEF) condition.