Abstract-In this paper, we present the architecture of a Web-based Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) for distant education of nursing students in fundamental aspects of the most common medical equipment. It offers course units covering the needs of users with different knowledge levels and characteristics. It tailors the presentation of the educational material to the users’ diverse needs by using AI techniques to specify each user’s model as well as to make pedagogical decisions. This is achieved via an expert system that uses a hybrid knowledge representation formalism integrating symbolic rules with neurocomputing. Keywords - Intelligent Tutoring Systems, health care technology I. INTRODUCTION The introduction of new technologies in health care, can be seen as improved diagnosis and treatment as well as increased efficiency of the services involved. At the same time, however, the implementation of these new improved technologies, introduces concerns about trained personnel and imposes new demands for tools and methods for their overall management. The support services, for biomedical technology, address a variety of technical and administrative issues, concerning the safe and efficient operation of medical equipment over the period of its intended use. Health care technology is our first line of defence against any disease. Health care professionals such as nurses have to be familiar with the most common medical equipment used in health care units. Educational programs already include courses with the fundamental aspects of the proper care and safety of medical instruments [12]. Throughout the last years biomedical education as well as medical practice education depends widely on Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) systems [9],[5],[11]. Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) constitute an advanced generation of CAIs. Their key feature is their ability to provide a user-adapted presentation of the teaching material [2],[14],[15]. This is accomplished by using Artificial Intelligence techniques to represent the pedagogical decisions and the information regarding each student. ITSs have become extremely popular during the last years and have been shown to be quite effective at increasing users’ performance and motivation [1]. The emergence of the World Wide Web increased the usefulness of such systems [3],[4],[10],[13], in distant learning environments. In this paper, we present the architecture of a Web-based ITS for teaching the use and safety aspects of health care technology. The system is addressed to nursing students or health professionals. It includes course units covering the needs of users with different knowledge levels and characteristics. The system models the users’ knowledge state and skills. Based on this information, it constructs lesson plans and selects the appropriate course units for teaching each individual user. The functionality of the system is controlled by an expert system based on neurules, a type of hybrid rules integrating symbolic rules with neurocomputing [6],[7]. II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION Fig. 1 depicts the basic architecture of the ITS. It consists of the following components: • the domain knowledge, containing the structure of the domain and the educational content. The educational content refers to the following main chapters: magnetic resonance, computed tomography, nuclear medicine, electro-medicine, ultrasound, anesthesia systems, radiographic systems, medical informatics, lasers and intensive care systems. Each chapter concerns specific equipment. For each piece of equipment primary learning items involve its structure, its manipulation and internationally recognized safety standards. • the user modeling component, which records information concerning the user, • the pedagogical model, which encompasses knowledge regarding various pedagogical decisions, • the user interface The ITS is based on an expert system aiming to control the teaching process. The expert system employs a hybrid knowledge representation formalism, called neurules [6]. In the following, we elaborate on the system's key aspects. Fig. 1. Architecture of the ITS. A WEB-BASED INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEM TEACHING NURSING STUDENTS FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY C. Koutsojannis, J. Prentzas, I. Hatzilygeroudis Department of Computer Engineering & Informatics, School of Engineering, University of Patras, Patras, Greece & Computer Technology Institute, P.O. Box 1122, 26110 Patras, Greece ckoutsog@ceid.upatras.gr, prentzas@ceid.upatras.gr, ihatz@cti.gr