Dr. Robert Sottilare is the Science Director for Intelligent Training at Soar Technology, Inc. He came to SoarTech in 2018 after completing a 35-year federal career in both Army and Navy training science and technology organizations. At the US Army Research Laboratory, he led the adaptive training science and technology program where the focus of his research was automated authoring, instructional management, and analysis tools and methods for intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) and standards for adaptive instructional systems. He is a co-creator of the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT), an open source, AI-based adaptive instructional architecture.  GIFT has over 2000 users in 76 countries.

Dr. Sottilare has long history as a leader, speaker, and supporter of learning and training sciences forums at the Defense & Homeland Security Simulation, HCII Augmented Cognition, and AI in Education conferences.  He is the founding chair of the HCII Adaptive Instructional Systems (AIS) Conference. He is a member of the AI in Education Society, the Florida AI Research Society, the IEEE Computer Society and Standards Association, the National Defense Industry Association (lifetime member), and the National Training Systems Association. He is currently the IEEE Project 2247 working group chair for the development of standards and recommended practices for AISs. He is a faculty scholar and adjunct professor at the University of Central Florida where he teaches a graduate level course in ITS design.

Dr. Sottilare has also been a frequent lecturer at the United States Military Academy (USMA) where he taught a senior level colloquium on adaptive training and ITS design.  He has a long history of participation in international scientific fora including NATO and the Technical Cooperation Program. He has over 200 technical publications in the learning sciences field with over 1500 citations in the last 5 years. His doctorate is in Modeling & Simulation with a focus in Intelligent Systems from the University of Central Florida.

Dr. Sottilare is a recipient of the US Army Meritorious Service Award (2018; 2nd highest civilian award), the US Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service (2008; 5th highest civilian award), and two lifetime achievement awards in Modeling & Simulation: US Army RDECOM (2012; inaugural recipient) and National Training & Simulation Association (2015).

This talk presents a model of the expert human tutoring process in an effort to identify critical drivers and translate them into practice in self-improving adaptive instructional systems (AISs). AISs are “artificially-intelligent, computer-based systems that guide learning experiences by tailoring instruction and recommendations based on the goals, needs, and preferences of each individual learner or team in the context of domain learning objectives” (Sottilare & Brawner, 2018). The goal is to capture some of the key tutor behaviors that make human tutors successful, identify associated instructional and learning theories in the literature, and then project those theories onto the learning landscape of AISs. This talk will also attempt to identify the elements of a standard measure of adaptive systems for computer-based instruction.