Design and Development of a Socratic Intelligent Tutoring System: Leveraging Agentic AI for Asynchronous Online Learning

Imagine having a personal tutor available anytime who asks thoughtful questions to help you gauge how well you understand ideas you are studying in class, without telling you the answers. This research developed and tested an artificial intelligence system called "Gadfly" that does exactly that. The tool uses the Socratic method, an ancient teaching approach where learning happens through questioning rather than lecturing, to have a conversation with the student in a casual text-based exchange. The study was based in a longstanding educational challenge: how to give students the benefits of one-on-one tutoring when there aren't enough human tutors available. The tutor was designed to work in online courses where students and teachers aren't online at the same time, creating meaningful learning conversations that ideally could promote critical thinking. When seven education and technology experts tested the system, they found it particularly good at asking open-ended questions, maintaining logical conversations, and being easy to use. They suggested improvements around helping students connect ideas to real-world situations and presenting different viewpoints on complex topics. This research shows that modern AI technology can effectively implement time-tested teaching methods in online environments. While not meant to replace human teachers, systems like Gadfly could provide valuable opportunities for students to check their understanding and practice critical thinking at their own pace, potentially making quality educational experiences accessible to many more learners.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Department dc:contributor.department

Education, Vocational-Technical

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Kayanuma, Bryce Platt

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Lockee, Barbara B.
• Holmes, Glen A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Johnson, Alicia Leinaala
• Scales, Glenda R.

• Socratic method
• Artificial Intelligence
• Personalized Instruction
• Generative AI
• Intelligent Tutoring System

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:43039

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/135529