Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Why Teachers Abandoned a Technology Aimed at Automating Teaching Processes

Abstract

Expectations that technology will improve and streamline education are high. However, technology often introduces new problems. This study aims to explore the challenges mathematics teachers encounter when they implement a digital mathematics textbook with an integrated intelligent tutoring system. A formative intervention was conducted in a two-year project with 16 secondary school teachers. The method was based on activity theory and required the teachers to collaborate with researchers in analyzing their work activity when the new teaching tool was introduced. In this paper, we show that an intelligent tutoring system created systemic contradictions for the teachers. Those contradictions involved predictability, division of labor, individual versus collective learning, accountability, and expectations versus experience. The teachers all tried to resolve the contradictions, but eventually felt compelled to abandon the intelligent tutoring system. The findings contribute to a better understanding of teachers’ responses to a technology aimed at automating teaching processes.