Authoring tools have been broadly used to design Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). However, ITS community still lacks a current understanding of how authoring tools are used by non-programmer authors to design ITS. Hence, the objective of this work is to review how authoring tools have been supporting ITS design for non-programmer authors. In order to meet our goal, we conduct a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to identify the primary studies on the use of ITS authoring tools, following a pre-defined review protocol. Among the 4622 papers retrieved from seven digital libraries published from 2009 to June 2016, 33 papers are finally included after applying our exclusion and inclusion criteria. We then identify the main ITS components authored, the ITS types designed, the features used to facilitate the authoring process, the technologies used to develop authoring tools and the time at which authoring occurs. We also look for evidence of the benefits of ITS authoring tools. In summary, the main findings of this work are: (1) there is empirical evidence of the benefits (i.e., mainly in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, quality of authored artifacts, and usability) of using ITS authoring tools for non-programmer authors, specially to aid authoring of learning content and to support authoring of model-tracing/cognitive and example-tracing tutors; 2) domain and pedagogical models have been much more targeted by authoring tools; (3) several ITS types have been authored, with an emphasis on model-tracing/cognitive and example-tracing tutors; (4) besides providing features for authoring all four ITS components, current authoring tools are also presenting general features (e.g., view learners’ statistics and reuse tutor design) to create broader authoring tools; (5) a great diversity of technologies, which include AI techniques, software solutions and distributed technologies, are used to develop ITS authoring tools; and (6) authoring tools have been mainly targeting ITS design before students’ instruction, but works are also addressing authoring during and/or post-instruction relying both on human and artificial intelligence. We conclude this work by showing several promising research opportunities that are quite important and interesting but underexplored in current research and practice.

Flow Theory has been increasingly applied to Computers and Education to address several topics within this field (e.g., motivation, engagement, learning performance and so on). At the same time, in comparison with other recent theories related to Computers and Education, (e.g., Self-Determination Theory, S-Curve Theory, Intrinsic motivation, etc.), is a young topic, with different open research questions. Additionally, the Computers and Education community still lacks a comprehensive understanding of how Flow Theory is used in the area. Thus, this paper presents a Systematic Literature Review aiming to identify how students' flow state are measured during learning activities, how such activities are designed, which are the flow models used in Computers and Education and which are the main benefits of being in the flow state for the students. The main findings of this work are: (1) there is positive evidence about the benefits of applying Flow Theory in Computers and Education, especially, for increasing students’ learning, to generate students’ satisfaction, and to enable exploratory behavior; (2) the majority of studies use questionnaires to manual identify students’ flow state; (3) a great diversity of flow state scales have been used; (4) the majority of studies are not designing activities for leading students to the flow state, and (5) the Csikszentmihalyi’ flow model is more used. Finally, we conclude this work by showing some promising and interesting research opportunities that are underexplored in current research and practice.

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are concerned with the use of artificial intelligence techniques for performing adaptive tutoring to learners' according to what they know about the domain. Researchers are increasingly interested in applying gamification in e-learning systems to engage students and to drive desired learning behaviors. However, little attention has been drawn to the effective application of gamification in ITS, and how to connect theories of both concepts in a standard and formal way. Moreover, gamified ITS should manipulate a huge amount of knowledge regarding several models, i.e., gamification, domain, student and pedagogical models. Formally connecting such theories as well as representing system's knowledge relies on the use of ontologies. In this paper, we present an ontological model that connects gamification and ITS concepts. Our model takes advantage of ontologies to allow automated reasoning (e.g., on the domain, student, pedagogical or gamification models), to enable interoperability, and create awareness about theories and good practices for the designers of gamified ITS. To evaluate our model, we use an ontology evaluation method based on five knowledge representation roles. We also illustrate how it could support the development of an intelligent authoring tool to design gamified ITS.