This document introduces the aims and activities of the Intelligent Computer Aided Instruction (ICAI) research community situated within the Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE) at the Open University in Great Britain, outlines the nature of the problems which come under the auspices of ICAI, and describes the research contribution being made in this area. The first of two sections presents a definition of ICAI and discusses its goals, methods of approaching ICAI, the current state of ICAI research, and the potential for expanded research in ICAI. The second section examines the existing ICAI community at the Open University, and describes the application of ICAI for teaching arithmetic, musical composition, and foreign language skills. Also outlined are research studies on problem-solving by students in physics, the analysis of structured tutoring dialogues, and other theoretically based issues in the application of artificial intelligence to education. The paper concludes with brief descriptions of the Open University as an environment for ICAI research and of the resources available for that research. A complete list of CITE reports is appended. (DB)