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CBTs are "conventional" systems that support learning and training which do not adapt to individual users. A CBT is more "traditional" than an ITS: "despite providing ready access to learning materials and on-on-one interaction, lacks the flexibility and learner-centered orientation of ITS that adds a dynamic and adaptive dimension to self-paced instruction" (Bell & Redfield 98). See ITS.

In an instructional situation there are usually at least three entities: the human teacher, the student, and the domain knowledge the teacher requires the student to obtain [KOTZ96]. CBE introduces a fourth entity, namely an electronic computer, to the tutoring process. The computer acts as a tutor and is generally in control of the tutoring process. [KOTZ96] describe tutoring as "[...] the process of providing instruction to the student. In the case of a computer-based system, this involves the presentation of the captured domain knowledge via the instructional activities recorded during the authoring process" (see Geyer-Schulz). 

Learning Circuits define CBT in the following way: "An umbrella term for the use of computers in both instruction and management of the teaching and learning process. CAI (computer-assisted instruction) and CMI (computer-managed instruction) are included under the heading of CBT. Some people use the terms CBT and CAI interchangeably."