Since problem solving in group
problem-based learning is a collaborative process, modeling individuals and the
group is necessary if we wish to develop an intelligent tutoring system that
can do things like focus the group discussion, promote collaboration, or
suggest peer helpers. We have used Bayesian networks
to model individual student knowledge and activity, as well as that of the
group. The validity of the approach has been tested with student models in the
areas of head injury, stroke and heart attack. Receiver
operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis shows that, the models are
highly accurate in predicting individual student actions. Comparison with human
tutors shows that group activity determined by the model agrees with that
suggested by the majority of the human tutors with a high degree of statistical
agreement (McNemar test, p = 0.774, Kappa = 0.823).