# Intelligent Educational Environments: Recent Trends, Modeling, and Applications
## 6 Discussion  
### Answers to Research Questions  
The presented conceptual model of an IEE aims to systematize the relationships among the ICTs applicable in education and the learning-teaching process and provide insights on how they could benefit each other. The authors' vision is by no means exhaustive or complete. The UML conceptual model encompasses the main elements of an IEE and their interactions in the learning environment. Intelligent educational systems, in some sense, are successors of well-known intelligent tutoring systems that also use artificial intelligence technologies for personalization. IES is a broader concept that emerged somewhat later and includes not only personalized learning and tutoring but also other elements like learning management systems, various attractive learning resource types, specific assessment tools, educational data analytics tools, and learning analytics. The IES also includes a variety of tools, systems, and applications that enhance not only the teaching and learning but also the administrative, assessment, and management aspects of education. ITS can be considered a subcomponent of a broader IES. Also, ITS or some of its components can be integrated into IES to provide a personalized and adaptive learning experience. To achieve the research goal, the authors formulate four research questions and attempt to provide answers to them. The current paper outlines recent research trends in intelligent education and the impact of modern technologies on the contemporary teaching-learning process. The Scopus scientific database indexes a wide range of research fields, including pedagogical topics, engineering aspects, and computer-related subjects relevant to the research. Therefore, this database is appropriate for conducting an interdisciplinary study like the one presented in this paper. _RQ1: What are recent topics and research trends regarding intelligent education?_  
The bibliometric analysis reveals a huge increase in the research activity in intelligent education worldwide during the last decade (Figure 1). Most explored are the top 20 terms, based on the authors' keywords (Figure 3). After qualitative analysis, they can be distributed into the following four groups: (1) intelligent data processing and knowledge retrieval technologies (artificial intelligence, machine and deep learning, natural language processing, data mining, learning analytics, and big data), (2) supportive technologies (cloud computing, virtual and augmented reality, and the Internet of Things), (3) educational context (higher education, personalized and adaptive learning, and e-learning), and (4) intelligent tutoring systems (as a generative term). _RQ2: What are the main user requirements for intelligent educational environments?_  
The authors review and summarize relevant publications on the topic and derive the most significant user requirements for IEE (Table 3). They are categorized as user-independent and specific (considering students' and teachers' views). On this basis, four groups of user requirements are outlined regarding the main aspects of the IEE--Intelligent Teaching-Learning Process, Technology (including educational and environmental), Data Management, and System Management. _RQ3: What essential elements and functionalities should be integrated into the conceptual model of an intelligent educational environment?_  
A generalized view of the essential elements is presented in the UML diagram (Figure 7), whose classes are related to the user requirement groups for the IEE defined in Table 3. The _Intelligent Teaching-Learning Process_ includes all the teaching-learning activities (authoring, tutoring, learning, assessment, discussing, feedback, etc.). In the UML model, they are supported by the green-colored classes _TeachingLearning_, _User_ (and its sub-classes), _Profile_, _Authoring_, _Assessment_, _Collaboration_, _EducationalTechnology_, _Automation_, and the gold-colored class _Analytics_. Technology_ embraces both educational and environmental devices.