Gordon I. McCalla
B.Sc., M.Sc. (Alberta), Ph.D. (BC)
Gord has been involved in artificial intelligence (AI) research for over 25
years, with a primary focus in two main areas: artificial intelligence in
education and user modelling. He has worked on systems to support the
learning of programming, including the G.E.N.I.U.S. system, various systems
under the rubric of the SCENT project, and the PETAL system. He has also
experimentally investigated basic issues in student modelling, instructional
planning, and tutorial dialogue. He is currently working on systems that
support peer collaboration in workplace and post-secondary training
environments, a robust cliche-based reverse engineering tool, an AI-based
second language learning immersion environment in travel domains, an
intelligent filtering/retrieval system, an ethics simulation environment,
and a personal preference system in the movie domain. Much of this work
is characterized by the goal of capturing relevant user information and
using it to individualize the system's interaction with each of its users.