6.3. Limitation of the approach
Although our new approach reveals good performance, it has some limitations in its practical application and now is on the verge of
being improved and optimized. For example, the analysis results could be inaccurate owing to correct answers due to “lucky guesses”, or
incorrect answers due to “carelessness”. To avoid these situations, it is suggested that the teachers design more than one test item for each
concept, depending on the available testing time. In addition, a two-tiered test, which employs two-level multiple-choice questions to
diagnose students’ alternative conceptions, could be an alternative to cope with this problem (Tsai & Chou, 2002).
Moreover, it would be interesting to know whether the same approach would work, and how well, for other kinds of courses, such as
Natural Science, Science and Engineering courses. Consequently, further investigations have been planned to apply this novel approach to
online tutoring for different courses.
Acknowledgments
This study is supported in part by the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST), the Thailand Research Fund,
the Commission on Higher Education, and the National Science Council of the Republic of China under contract numbers NSC 98-2511-S-
024-007-MY3 and NSC 98-2631-S-024-001