Cognitive Tutors have been successful in raising students' math test scores in high school and middle-school classrooms, but their development has traditionally required considerable time and expertise. With the Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools (CTAT), creating Cognitive Tutors is both easier for experts and possible for novices in cognitive science. The tools draw on ideas of programming by demonstration, structured editing, and others.

Project News

CTAT Documentation moved May 10, 2017

The documentation for the Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools has moved to a new location. All new documentation is now available in one place. Go to the new documentation and tutorials.

CTAT 4.2.0 Released January 19, 2017

CTAT version 4.2.0 is available for download. CTAT 4.2.0 supports our new CTAT HTML Editor, which allows users to quickly build tutor interfaces. Changes include:

  • Support for connecting to the web-based CTAT HTML Editor.
  • Improved support for graph editing with HTML tutor interfaces.
  • Fixes in HTML components.

Read more in the release notes.

CTAT 4.1.0 Released October 28, 2016

CTAT 4.1.0 is primarily a bug-fix release to address issues found in CTAT 4.0.0. Changes include:

  • Improved support for HTML tutor interfaces.
  • Mass production with HTML tutors was limited in the previous release. Now mass production works with all components.
  • Fixes in the JavaScript Example Tracer.
  • Fixes in Jess.

Read more in the release notes.

CTAT 4.0.0 Released July 7, 2016

CTAT 4.0.0 introduces support for HTML. Changes include:

  • Support for HTML tutor interfaces.
  • Easy embedding of CTAT tutors in many e-learning platforms and learning management systems.
  • JavaScript Example Tracer.
  • Better support for accessing and saving tutors in a directory of your choosing.
  • Find feature.
  • Problem Restore.
  • Log Replay.

Read more in the release notes.

CTAT 3.4.0 Released February 6, 2015

Changes include:

  • Java 6 is no longer supported. Java 7 or greater is required.
  • New Flash components: CommNumericStepper and CommScrollPaneComponent.
  • CTAT installers and Flash component packages are signed.
  • A new Feedback Policy has been added to provide improved support for quizzes.
  • Support for SCORM v2.1.

Read more in the release notes.

CTAT 3.3.0 Released May 22, 2014

CTAT 3.3.0 includes many new features and improvements. Changes include:

  • Support for multiple open graphs
  • Copy/paste links within or between graphs
  • Copy/paste link contents from one link to another
  • Re-record the start state for a behavior graph created with a Flash student interface
  • Clean Up Graph command to remove unneeded information from a behavior graph and speed up tutor start time (Flash student interfaces only)
  • New Flash components: CommDragAndDrop, CommJumble, CTATMathML, CommScore, CommPieChartTimer, and CommSubmitImageButton.
  • CommCheckBox Flash component has been redesigned to work as a multiple-choice component with CommSubmitButton
  • Better handling of references to components in a behavior graph that are no longer present in the connected student inteface

CTAT 3.2.1 Released Ausust 28, 2013

CTAT 3.2.1 is primarily a bug-fix release. Changes include:

  • The Java Logic Tutor is included as an example tutor again
  • Sample files and code to support running a Java interface as an applet
  • A new CommComponentsAS3.zxp file that resolves an error when installing the components in Flash CC
  • New and revised Java functions for expression matching
  • A better CommAudioButton component for Flash

New Flash components installer for CTAT 3.2 July 22, 2013

We corrected an issue with our Flash components .ZXP file and have posted a new version of CommComponentsAS3.zxp. Please download and install this version using the Adobe Extension Manager if you are downloading CTAT for the first time and plan to use Flash for authoring student interfaces. For those who previously tried to install the Flash components for CTAT 3.2 in Adobe Extension Manager CC: this new version contains the same components you've already installed, but will not produce an error message in the Extension Manager. The error message can be safely ignored even though it appears that the components did not install successfully.

CTAT 3.2 Released June 7, 2013

This release includes the following improvements:

  • "Open Recent" menu for accessing recently opened behavior graph files
  • Reorganized menus that are more standard. The mass production commands are now located under Tools > Mass Production.
  • Tutor-performed actions from the start state are now possible.
  • Java applet-based Tutoring Service (for Flash AS3 tutors) is now included as a new deployment option. See the README.txt in the folder CTAT/deploy-applet for more info.
  • New AS3 Flash components for building tutors: CommAudioButton, CommControllerButton, CommFractionBar, CommPieChart, CommSubmitButton, and CommTable

CTAT 3.1 Released July 30, 2012

This is an exciting release for CTAT, with many major improvements. Look for:

  • Undo/redo support in the authoring tools
  • Connection icon in the authoring tools tells you whether or not a Flash or Java student interface is connected to the tools
  • Simplified process for opening a behavior graph (.brd) file: double-click a .brd file to open it on Windows or Mac OS X
  • Ability to customize the hint policy of an example-tracing tutor
  • Ability to edit the "out of order" message that appears when a student works on a step that the graph's ordering constraints do not allow.
  • CommNumberLine component for the ActionScript 3 version of the Flash components
  • Numerous bug fixes and other refinements to the authoring tools and Flash components

CTAT 3.0 Released December 14, 2011

This is a major release for CTAT. It's the first release with ActionScript 3.0 versions of the Flash components (see {CTAT}/Flash/CommComponentsAS3.mxp).

CTAT 2.12 Released August 18, 2011

In addition to the changes listed below as part of CTAT 2.12 Beta, the following features have been added (as well as many bug fixes):

  • A new checkbox on the mass production dialog, "Table file was edited with Microsoft Excel", enables CTAT to handle Excel artifacts in tab-delimited files such as "" (two quote marks) and surrounding quotes on fields.
  • The authoring tools will now warn you when you try to create a start state with no interface connected.

CTAT 2.12 Beta Released August 2, 2011

After a long period offline, CTAT is now available again. This release includes the following changes:

  • All Java widgets have been renamed. Instead of Dormin as a prefix, it's now JComm (e.g., JCommLabel, JCommChooser).
  • DorminWidgets.jar is now ctat.jar
  • We performed a major cleanup in our Java code, resulting in a smaller JAR file size.
  • When using CTAT, the tutor type (e.g., Example-tracing or Cognitive Tutor (Jess)) is saved to and loaded from the BRD file
  • New function for use in Jess matching: lhs-predict-oa (left hand side predict observable action). This can be used to improve the efficiency of slower Jess tutors. The logic tutor example has been updated to use this function.

Archived news