Not all wizards are from Oz: Iterative design of intelligent learning environments by communication capacity tapering

This paper presents a methodology for the design of intelligent learning environments. We recognise that in the educational technology field, theory development and system-design should be integrated and rely on an iterative process that addresses: (a) the difficulty to elicit precise, concise, and operationalised knowledge from 'experts' and (b) the crucial differences between the communication modalities that experts can relate to, and those that are available to a computer-based system. Inspired by the well-known wizard-of-Oz methodology we discuss the need for characterising and carefully controlling the range of its possible variations. We refer to our approach as 'tapering' of the communication capacity of carefully engineered didactical situations and present its application, and a case study from our work with an exploratory environment. We then discuss the generality of the methodology and pragmatic constraints which can be useful in similar research. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.