The Best Paper Award of the 8th International Conference on Adaptive Instructional Systems
has been conferred to
Myke C. Cohen (Aptima, Inc. / Arizona State University, USA), Summer Rebensky, Adrian Flowers, Julia Brown and Zachary Klinefelter (Aptima, Inc., USA)
for the paper entitled
"Toward Human-Autonomy Teaming in Adaptive Instructional Systems: Interaction-Centered Design of Compound AI"
Myke Cohen
(presenter)
Best Paper Award for the 8th International Conference on Adaptive Instructional Systems, in the context of HCI International 2026, Montreal, Canada, 26 - 31 July 2026
Certificate for Best Paper Award of the 8th International Conference on Adaptive Instructional Systems presented in the context of HCI International 2026, Montreal, Canada, 26 - 31 July 2026
Paper Abstract
Traditional adaptive instructional systems (AISs) have long been limited by the possibility frontier of human-led design and facilitation. The depth of curriculum, the complexity of training scenarios, and the frequency of individualized feedback have historically been constrained by the time and cognitive bandwidth of human experts. In this paper, we argue that the advancement of AISs is not merely a matter of automation, but of collaborative expansion. By teaming expert instructors and stakeholders with modern, compound AI systems, we can meaningfully augment instructional design with delivery workflows that are far more capable of doctrinal realism than those produced by humans or AI in isolation. We present a framework for designing AI-enabled AISs where training is co-created and co-managed by humans and AI systems, shifting the focus from managing complexity to enabling sophisticated instructional capability. We illustrate this approach through two real-world examples, and identify future directions for interaction-centered design and evaluation of AISs and human–autonomy teams.
The full paper is available through SpringerLink, provided that you have proper access rights.