Neil Heffernan
Encyclopedia
Neil T. Heffernan is a professor of computer science
at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
. He is known for his role in the development of the ASSISTment software, which helps students learn mathematics even as it assesses their knowledge, and which is used by over 4000 students a year in Massachusetts. Technology developed by Heffernan has also been incorporated into Cognitive Tutor
software developed by Carnegie Learning
. He is widely published in intelligent tutoring systems, and educational data mining
, and he and his research group has repeatedly won "Best Paper" awards at scientific conferences in those areas, including the Marr Prize for Best Student Paper at the 1997 meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, and the James Chen award for the Best Paper of the Year in the journal User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction.
Heffernan obtained a bachelor's degree in History
and Computer Science
at Amherst College
, and a doctorate in Computer Science
from Carnegie Mellon University
. His doctoral advisors were Kenneth Koedinger
and John Robert Anderson. He then worked as Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, establishing the strong Learning Sciences
research group in the Computer Science Department at WPI. Also, alongside Dr. Janice Gobert, the two established the Learning Science and Technology Master's and Ph.D. program at WPI.
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities...
. He is known for his role in the development of the ASSISTment software, which helps students learn mathematics even as it assesses their knowledge, and which is used by over 4000 students a year in Massachusetts. Technology developed by Heffernan has also been incorporated into Cognitive Tutor
Cognitive tutor
A cognitive tutor is an intelligent tutoring system which develops a cognitive model of a student as he or she interacts with the program, providing problems and individualized instruction based on this model....
software developed by Carnegie Learning
Carnegie Learning
Carnegie Learning, Inc. is an American publisher of math curricula for middle school, high school, and post-secondary students. The company uses a blended approach, with a textbook and software for each subject...
. He is widely published in intelligent tutoring systems, and educational data mining
Educational data mining
Educational Data Mining is an emerging discipline, concerned with developing methods for exploring the unique types of data that come from educational settings, and using those methods to better understand students, and the settings which they learn in. A key area of EDM is mining computer logs of...
, and he and his research group has repeatedly won "Best Paper" awards at scientific conferences in those areas, including the Marr Prize for Best Student Paper at the 1997 meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, and the James Chen award for the Best Paper of the Year in the journal User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction.
Heffernan obtained a bachelor's degree in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, and a doctorate in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. His doctoral advisors were Kenneth Koedinger
Kenneth koedinger
Kenneth R. Koedinger is a professor of human-computer interaction and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University . He is founding and current director of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center . He is widely known for his role in the development of the Cognitive Tutor software...
and John Robert Anderson. He then worked as Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, establishing the strong Learning Sciences
Learning sciences
The term Learning Sciences refers to an interdisciplinary field that works to further scientific understanding of learning as well as to engage in the design and implementation of learning innovations, and improvement of instructional methodologies...
research group in the Computer Science Department at WPI. Also, alongside Dr. Janice Gobert, the two established the Learning Science and Technology Master's and Ph.D. program at WPI.
External links
See also
- Learning SciencesLearning sciencesThe term Learning Sciences refers to an interdisciplinary field that works to further scientific understanding of learning as well as to engage in the design and implementation of learning innovations, and improvement of instructional methodologies...
- Kenneth KoedingerKenneth koedingerKenneth R. Koedinger is a professor of human-computer interaction and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University . He is founding and current director of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center . He is widely known for his role in the development of the Cognitive Tutor software...
- John Robert Anderson