arXiv:2605.30051v2 Announce Type: replace
Abstract: A key part of developing large language model (LLM)-powered, automated tutoring tools is student simulation, i.e., using LLMs to role-play as stude...
By Zhangqi Duan, Shuyan Huang, Alexander Scarlatos, Jaewook Lee, Simon Woodhead, Andrew Lan
The paper introduces UCO, a multi‑turn interactive reinforcement learning method designed to improve adaptive teaching with large language models. UCO employs two reward functions—Progress Reward to gauge genuine cognitive advancement and Scaffold Reward to keep instruction within each student’s Zone of Proximal Development. Experiments on BigMath and MathTutorBench show UCO outperforming 11 baseline models and matching advanced closed‑source systems.
By Shouang Wei, Min Zhang, Xin Lin, Bo Jiang, Kun Kuang, Zhongxiang Dai
arXiv:2604. 04251v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Intelligent tutoring systems increasingly rely on reinforcement learning to personalise instruction, yet optimising for observable engagement signals can systematically decouple learner activity from genuine knowledge acquisition.
By Oluseyi Olukola, Nick Rahimi
The paper introduces MENTOR, a multi‑agent framework that provides on‑policy pedagogical intervention to address zero‑reward collapse in reinforcement learning from verifiable rewards. MENTOR diagnoses failures in real time and generates targeted prompts to guide the learning agent, integrating seamlessly with existing policy optimization pipelines such as GRPO. Experiments on math and code generation tasks show that MENTOR significantly reduces collapse, achieving up to 78.3% relative gains on Llama‑3.2‑3B‑Instruct.
By Guanlan Yue, Hang Yu, Xiaoyong Huang, Ruipeng Li, Wei Zhang, Bingchang Liu, Rui Wang
CoLearn is an interactive, agentic tutoring system that learns about each learner through a persistent memory of mastery and misconceptions, updated with a Bayesian Knowledge Tracing model that uses a large language model as an observation function. It generates personalized questions targeting the learner’s weakest topics and recurring misconceptions, and provides a live evidence view for progress visualization and blind A/B comparison. In blind A/B tests, learners preferred questions conditioned on this memory 68‑69% of the time, and simulations show the agent’s belief converges toward the learner’s true mastery.
By Kailai He, Zhihao Wu, Linhai Zhang, Runcong Zhao, Yulan He, Jiazheng Li
arXiv:2610.08778v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) have become increasingly capable problem solvers, but being able to solve a problem is not the same as being able to teach...
By Weixian Xu, Yanzhe Zhang, Zora Zhiruo Wang, Changyu Chen, Diyi Yang