PRIAM: a plan-based interface design

While the role of the user interface is often stressed from the viewpoint of user-system performance, it is less frequently considered as a basis for user learning. Thus, in his recent survey of research in Intelligent Computer-Assisted Instruction (ICAI), Dede describes the user interface as “a service function with the ICAI system”[l]. (One exception to this neglect is the work of Slator et al., who consider the learning benefits of ‘mnemonic feedback” in a natural language interface12f.j The presumption here is that the user interface does nothing more than direct user input and present system output. Yet, current developments in the design of intelligent interfaces suggest the possibility of an interface which acts as a learning environment.