Most instruction occurs in groups of 25 to 35 students in small segments from 45 to 50 minutes long. Instruction is usually either whole-class or completely individual. Instruction is teacher dominated, with teachers doing most of the talking and student talk confined largely to brief answers to teacher questions. When students work on their own, they complete handouts devised or selected by the teacher. Students have little responsibility for selecting goals or deadlines and little chance to explore issues in depth.
Most responses are brief.
Knowledge is represented as mastery of isolated bits of information and discrete skills. Many features of tutorial CAI are consistent with the traditional classroom described by Cohen. CAI is designed for use by a single student and can be accommodated into a regular class schedule if computers are placed in a laboratory into which various whole classes are scheduled. Disadvantaged students need the opportunity to acquire advanced thinking skills and can acquire basic skills within the context of complex, meaningful problems. The truly intelligent systems that followed were able to present problems based on models of the student's knowledge, to solve problems themselves, and to diagnose and explain student capabilities.