Adaptive Learning Environments (ALEs) can be viewed as the intersection of two traditionally distinct areas of research: instructional science and

computer science. They encompass intelligent tutoring systems, interactive learning environments, and situated learning environments. There

is increasing interest in effective instructional systems

from education, industry, military and government sectors. Given recent advances in hardware architecture and reduction of hardware costs, the time is right to define the next steps in research and development of

ALEs. This book is an outgrowth of the presentations and discussions

that took place at the NATO Advanced Study Institute held at the University of Calgary in July 1990. It contains chapters from both researchers in

instructional science and researchers in computer science on the

following topics: - Systems and architectures for instruction -

Representing curriculum and designing instructional tasks - Environments to support learning - Diagnosing students’ learning and adjusting plans

for instruction - Models of students’ metacognition, motivation and

learning strategies - Student-system interactions. The book containsintroductions/critiques of each pair of chapters, and a final chapter

discusses the synthesis of instructional science and computer science.